Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving random access channel

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method for transmitting a random access channel (RACH). Particularly, the method includes receiving PRACH configuration information including information about a slot (RACH slot) available for transmission of the RACH and information indicating a subcarrier spacing for a PRACH, and transmitting a RACH preamble in the RACH slot on the basis of the PRACH configuration information and the subcarrier spacing, wherein the length of the RACH slot depends on the subcarrier spacing.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/064,993, filed on Jun. 21, 2018, which is a National Stageapplication under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No.PCT/KR2018/005120, filed on May 3, 2018, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/557,096, filed on Sep. 11, 2017,U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/507,752, filed on May 17, 2017, andU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/501,086, filed on May 3, 2017. Thedisclosures of the prior applications are incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for transmitting and receivinga random access channel and an apparatus therefor, and morespecifically, to a method for transmitting and receiving a RACH slot fora random access channel by changing the length of the RACH slotaccording to PRACH configuration and an apparatus therefor.

BACKGROUND ART

As a larger number of communication devices require larger communicationtraffic according to the current trends, a next-generation 5G systemwhich is a wireless broadband communication system evolving from LTE isrequired. In such a next-generation 5G system called NewRAT,communication scenarios are divided into enhanced mobile broadband(eMBB), ultra-reliability and low-latency communication (URLLC), massivemachine-type communications (mMTC), etc.

Here, eMBB is a next-generation mobile communication scenario havingcharacteristics of high spectrum efficiency, a high user experienceddata rate and a high peak data rate and URLLC is a next-generationmobile communication scenario having characteristics of ultra-reliable,ultra-low latency, ultra-high availability and the like (e.g., V2X,emergency service and remote control). mMTC is a next-generation mobilecommunication scenario having characteristics of low cost, low energy,short packets, and massive connectivity (e.g., IoT).

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

An object of the present invention is to provide a method fortransmitting and receiving a random access channel and an apparatustherefor.

Technical tasks obtainable from the present invention are not limited bythe above-mentioned technical task. Other unmentioned technical taskscan be clearly understood from the following description by those havingordinary skill in the technical field to which the present inventionpertains.

Technical Solution

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method fortransmitting a random access channel (RACH) by a UE in a wirelesscommunication system includes: receiving PRACH configuration informationincluding information about a slot (RACH slot) available fortransmission of the RACH and information indicating a subcarrier spacingfor a PRACH; and transmitting a RACH preamble in the RACH slot on thebasis of the PRACH configuration information and the subcarrier spacing,wherein the length of the RACH slot depends on the subcarrier spacing.

Here, the PRACH configuration information may further include startsymbol index information indicating the first symbol for a RACH resourceamong symbols in the RACH slot, and the start symbol index may beidentical for all RACH slots indicated by the PRACH configurationinformation.

Further, the start symbol index may be 0 or 2.

Further, the PRACH configuration information may indicate a frameincluding the RACH slot, and the number of slots included in the framemay be proportional to the subcarrier spacing.

Further, the RACH slot may be repeatedly mapped according to periodicitycorresponding to the PRACH configuration information.

Further, the length of the RACH slot may be inversely proportional tothe subcarrier spacing when the RACH preamble uses a short sequencehaving a length of 139.

AUE transmitting a random access channel (RACH) in a wirelesscommunication system according to the present invention includes: atransceiver for transmitting/receiving radio signals to/from a basestation; and a processor connected to the transceiver and configured tocontrol the transceiver, wherein the processor controls the transceiverto receive PRACH configuration information including information about aslot (RACH slot) available for transmission of the RACH and informationindicating a subcarrier spacing for a PRACH and controls the transceiverto transmit a RACH preamble in the RACH slot on the basis of the PRACHconfiguration information and the subcarrier spacing, and the length ofthe RACH slot depends on the subcarrier spacing.

Here, the PRACH configuration information may further include startsymbol index information indicating the first symbol for a RACH resourceamong symbols in the RACH slot, and the start symbol index may beidentical for all RACH slots indicated by the PRACH configurationinformation.

Further, the start symbol index may be 0 or 2.

Further, the PRACH configuration information may indicate a frameincluding the RACH slot, and the number of slots included in the framemay be proportional to the subcarrier spacing.

Further, the RACH slot may be repeatedly mapped according to periodicitycorresponding to the PRACH configuration information.

Further, the length of the RACH slot may be inversely proportional tothe subcarrier spacing when the RACH preamble uses a short sequencehaving a length of 139.

A method for receiving a random access channel (RACH) by a base stationin a wireless communication system according to the present inventionincludes: transmitting PRACH configuration information includinginformation about a slot (RACH slot) available for transmission of theRACH and information indicating a subcarrier spacing for a PRACH; anddetecting a RACH preamble transmitted in the RACH slot on the basis ofthe PRACH configuration information and the subcarrier spacing, whereinthe length of the RACH slot depends on the subcarrier spacing.

A base station receiving a random access channel (RACH) in a wirelesscommunication system according to the present invention includes: atransceiver for transmitting/receiving radio signals to/from a UE; and aprocessor connected to the transceiver and configured to control thetransceiver, wherein the processor controls the transceiver to transmitPRACH configuration information including information about a slot (RACHslot) available for transmission of the RACH and information indicatinga subcarrier spacing for a PRACH and controls the transceiver to detecta RACH preamble transmitted in the RACH slot on the basis of the PRACHconfiguration information and the subcarrier spacing, and the length ofthe RACH slot depends on the subcarrier spacing.

Advantageous Effects

According to the present invention, a UE can generate and transmitacknowledgement information per CBG included in data received in one ormore slots.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that that theeffects that could be achieved with the present invention are notlimited to what has been particularly described hereinabove and otheradvantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood fromthe following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a random access preamble format in LTE/LTE-A.

FIG. 2 illustrates a slot structure available in a new radio accesstechnology (NR).

FIG. 3 abstractly illustrates a hybrid beamforming structure from theviewpoint of a transceiver unit (TXRU) and a physical antenna.

FIG. 4 illustrates a cell of a new radio access technology (NR).

FIG. 5 illustrates SS block transmission and RACH resources linked to SSblocks.

FIG. 6 illustrates a configuration/format of a random access channel(RACH) preamble and a receiver function.

FIG. 7 illustrates receiving (Rx) beams formed in a gNB to receive aRACH preamble.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing terms used in the description of thepresent invention with respect to RACH signals and RACH resources.

FIG. 9 illustrates a RACH resource set.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for describing the present invention with respectto RACH resource boundary alignment.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method of configuring a mini slot in a slotSLOT_(RACH) for a RACH when BC is valid.

FIG. 12 illustrates another method of configuring a mini slot in a slotSLOT_(RACH) for a RACH when BC is valid.

FIG. 13 illustrates a method of configuring a mini slot in a slotSLOT_(RACH) for a RACH when BC is not valid.

FIG. 14 illustrates a method of configuring a mini slot using a guardtime.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of concatenating mini slots in the samelength as a normal slot with a valid BC to transmit data.

FIG. 16 illustrates examples of RACH slot types.

FIGS. 17 to 23 illustrate embodiments of methods of configuring RACHresources and methods of allocating RACH resources.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating components of a transmitter 10and a receiver 20 which perform the present invention.

BEST MODE

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. The detailed description, which will be given below withreference to the accompanying drawings, is intended to explain exemplaryembodiments of the present invention, rather than to show the onlyembodiments that can be implemented according to the invention. Thefollowing detailed description includes specific details in order toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present inventionmay be practiced without such specific details.

In some instances, known structures and devices are omitted or are shownin block diagram form, focusing on important features of the structuresand devices, so as not to obscure the concept of the present invention.The same reference numbers will be used throughout this specification torefer to the same or like parts.

The following techniques, apparatuses, and systems may be applied to avariety of wireless multiple access systems. Examples of the multipleaccess systems include a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, afrequency division multiple access (FDMA) system, a time divisionmultiple access (TDMA) system, an orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA) system, a single carrier frequency division multipleaccess (SC-FDMA) system, and a multicarrier frequency division multipleaccess (MC-FDMA) system. CDMA may be embodied through radio technologysuch as universal terrestrial radio access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA maybe embodied through radio technology such as global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), or enhanceddata rates for GSM evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be embodied through radiotechnology such as institute of electrical and electronics engineers(IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or evolved UTRA(E-UTRA). UTRA is a part of a universal mobile telecommunications system(UMTS). 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution(LTE) is a part of evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employsOFDMA in DL and SC-FDMA in UL. LTE-advanced (LTE-A) is an evolvedversion of 3GPP LTE. For convenience of description, it is assumed thatthe present invention is applied to 3GPP based communication system,e.g. LTE/LTE-A, NR. However, the technical features of the presentinvention are not limited thereto. For example, although the followingdetailed description is given based on a mobile communication systemcorresponding to a 3GPP LTE/LTE-A/NR system, aspects of the presentinvention that are not specific to 3GPP LTE/LTE-A/NR are applicable toother mobile communication systems.

For example, the present invention is applicable to contention basedcommunication such as Wi-Fi as well as non-contention basedcommunication as in the 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system in which an eNB allocatesa DL/UL time/frequency resource to a UE and the UE receives a DL signaland transmits a UL signal according to resource allocation of the eNB.In a non-contention based communication scheme, an access point (AP) ora control node for controlling the AP allocates a resource forcommunication between the UE and the AP, whereas, in a contention basedcommunication scheme, a communication resource is occupied throughcontention between UEs which desire to access the AP. The contentionbased communication scheme will now be described in brief. One type ofthe contention based communication scheme is carrier sense multipleaccess (CSMA). CSMA refers to a probabilistic media access control (MAC)protocol for confirming, before a node or a communication devicetransmits traffic on a shared transmission medium (also called a sharedchannel) such as a frequency band, that there is no other traffic on thesame shared transmission medium. In CSMA, a transmitting devicedetermines whether another transmission is being performed beforeattempting to transmit traffic to a receiving device. In other words,the transmitting device attempts to detect presence of a carrier fromanother transmitting device before attempting to perform transmission.Upon sensing the carrier, the transmitting device waits for anothertransmission device which is performing transmission to finishtransmission, before performing transmission thereof. Consequently, CSMAcan be a communication scheme based on the principle of “sense beforetransmit” or “listen before talk”. A scheme for avoiding collisionbetween transmitting devices in the contention based communicationsystem using CSMA includes carrier sense multiple access with collisiondetection (CSMA/CD) and/or carrier sense multiple access with collisionavoidance (CSMA/CA). CSMA/CD is a collision detection scheme in a wiredlocal area network (LAN) environment. In CSMA/CD, a personal computer(PC) or a server which desires to perform communication in an Ethernetenvironment first confirms whether communication occurs on a networkand, if another device carries data on the network, the PC or the serverwaits and then transmits data. That is, when two or more users (e.g.PCs, UEs, etc.) simultaneously transmit data, collision occurs betweensimultaneous transmission and CSMA/CD is a scheme for flexiblytransmitting data by monitoring collision. A transmitting device usingCSMA/CD adjusts data transmission thereof by sensing data transmissionperformed by another device using a specific rule. CSMA/CA is a MACprotocol specified in IEEE 802.11 standards. A wireless LAN (WLAN)system conforming to IEEE 802.11 standards does not use CSMA/CD whichhas been used in IEEE 802.3 standards and uses CA, i.e. a collisionavoidance scheme. Transmission devices always sense carrier of a networkand, if the network is empty, the transmission devices wait fordetermined time according to locations thereof registered in a list andthen transmit data. Various methods are used to determine priority ofthe transmission devices in the list and to reconfigure priority. In asystem according to some versions of IEEE 802.11 standards, collisionmay occur and, in this case, a collision sensing procedure is performed.A transmission device using CSMA/CA avoids collision between datatransmission thereof and data transmission of another transmissiondevice using a specific rule.

In embodiments of the present invention described below, the term“assume” may mean that a subject to transmit a channel transmits thechannel in accordance with the corresponding “assumption”. This may alsomean that a subject to receive the channel receives or decodes thechannel in a form conforming to the “assumption”, on the assumption thatthe channel has been transmitted according to the “assumption”.

In the present invention, puncturing a channel on a specific resourcemeans that the signal of the channel is mapped to the specific resourcein the procedure of resource mapping of the channel, but a portion ofthe signal mapped to the punctured resource is excluded in transmittingthe channel. In other words, the specific resource which is punctured iscounted as a resource for the channel in the procedure of resourcemapping of the channel, a signal mapped to the specific resource amongthe signals of the channel is not actually transmitted. The receiver ofthe channel receives, demodulates or decodes the channel, assuming thatthe signal mapped to the specific resource is not transmitted. On theother hand, rate-matching of a channel on a specific resource means thatthe channel is never mapped to the specific resource in the procedure ofresource mapping of the channel, and thus the specific resource is notused for transmission of the channel. In other words, the rate-matchedresource is not counted as a resource for the channel in the procedureof resource mapping of the channel. The receiver of the channelreceives, demodulates, or decodes the channel, assuming that thespecific rate-matched resource is not used for mapping and transmissionof the channel.

In the present invention, a user equipment (UE) may be a fixed or mobiledevice. Examples of the UE include various devices that transmit andreceive user data and/or various kinds of control information to andfrom a base station (BS). The UE may be referred to as a terminalequipment (TE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), a userterminal (UT), a subscriber station (SS), a wireless device, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a handheld device, etc. Inaddition, in the present invention, a BS generally refers to a fixedstation that performs communication with a UE and/or another BS, andexchanges various kinds of data and control information with the UE andanother BS. The BS may be referred to as an advanced base station (ABS),a node-B (NB), an evolved node-B (eNB), a base transceiver system (BTS),an access point (AP), a processing server (PS), etc. Particularly, a BSof a UTRAN is referred to as a Node-B, a BS of an E-UTRAN is referred toas an eNB, and a BS of a new radio access technology network is referredto as a gNB. In describing the present invention, a BS will be referredto as a gNB.

In the present invention, a node refers to a fixed point capable oftransmitting/receiving a radio signal through communication with a UE.Various types of gNBs may be used as nodes irrespective of the termsthereof. For example, a BS, a node B (NB), an e-node B (eNB), apico-cell eNB (PeNB), a home eNB (HeNB), gNB, a relay, a repeater, etc.may be a node. In addition, the node may not be a gNB. For example, thenode may be a radio remote head (RRH) or a radio remote unit (RRU). TheRRH or RRU generally has a lower power level than a power level of agNB. Since the RRH or RRU (hereinafter, RRH/RRU) is generally connectedto the gNB through a dedicated line such as an optical cable,cooperative communication between RRH/RRU and the gNB can be smoothlyperformed in comparison with cooperative communication between gNBsconnected by a radio line. At least one antenna is installed per node.The antenna may mean a physical antenna or mean an antenna port or avirtual antenna.

In the present invention, a cell refers to a prescribed geographicalarea to which one or more nodes provide a communication service.Accordingly, in the present invention, communicating with a specificcell may mean communicating with a gNB or a node which provides acommunication service to the specific cell. In addition, a DL/UL signalof a specific cell refers to a DL/UL signal from/to a gNB or a nodewhich provides a communication service to the specific cell. A nodeproviding UL/DL communication services to a UE is called a serving nodeand a cell to which UL/DL communication services are provided by theserving node is especially called a serving cell. Furthermore, channelstatus/quality of a specific cell refers to channel status/quality of achannel or communication link formed between a gNB or node whichprovides a communication service to the specific cell and a UE. In the3GPP based communication system, the UE may measure DL channel statereceived from a specific node using cell-specific reference signal(s)(CRS(s)) transmitted on a CRS resource and/or channel state informationreference signal(s) (CSI-RS(s)) transmitted on a CSI-RS resource,allocated by antenna port(s) of the specific node to the specific node.

Meanwhile, a 3GPP based communication system uses the concept of a cellin order to manage radio resources and a cell associated with the radioresources is distinguished from a cell of a geographic region.

A “cell” of a geographic region may be understood as coverage withinwhich a node can provide service using a carrier and a “cell” of a radioresource is associated with bandwidth (BW) which is a frequency rangeconfigured by the carrier. Since DL coverage, which is a range withinwhich the node is capable of transmitting a valid signal, and ULcoverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of receivingthe valid signal from the UE, depends upon a carrier carrying thesignal, the coverage of the node may be associated with coverage of the“cell” of a radio resource used by the node. Accordingly, the term“cell” may be used to indicate service coverage of the node sometimes, aradio resource at other times, or a range that a signal using a radioresource can reach with valid strength at other times.

Meanwhile, the 3GPP communication standards use the concept of a cell tomanage radio resources. The “cell” associated with the radio resourcesis defined by combination of downlink resources and uplink resources,that is, combination of DL CC and UL CC. The cell may be configured bydownlink resources only, or may be configured by downlink resources anduplink resources. If carrier aggregation is supported, linkage between acarrier frequency of the downlink resources (or DL CC) and a carrierfrequency of the uplink resources (or UL CC) may be indicated by systeminformation. For example, combination of the DL resources and the ULresources may be indicated by linkage of system information block type 2(SIB2). The carrier frequency means a center frequency of each cell orCC. A cell operating on a primary frequency may be referred to as aprimary cell (Pcell) or PCC, and a cell operating on a secondaryfrequency may be referred to as a secondary cell (Scell) or SCC. Thecarrier corresponding to the Pcell on downlink will be referred to as adownlink primary CC (DL PCC), and the carrier corresponding to the Pcellon uplink will be referred to as an uplink primary CC (UL PCC). A Scellmeans a cell that may be configured after completion of radio resourcecontrol (RRC) connection establishment and used to provide additionalradio resources. The Scell may form a set of serving cells for the UEtogether with the Pcell in accordance with capabilities of the UE. Thecarrier corresponding to the Scell on the downlink will be referred toas downlink secondary CC (DL SCC), and the carrier corresponding to theScell on the uplink will be referred to as uplink secondary CC (UL SCC).Although the UE is in RRC-CONNECTED state, if it is not configured bycarrier aggregation or does not support carrier aggregation, a singleserving cell configured by the Pcell only exists.

3GPP based communication standards define DL physical channelscorresponding to resource elements carrying information derived from ahigher layer and DL physical signals corresponding to resource elementswhich are used by a physical layer but which do not carry informationderived from a higher layer. For example, a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physicalmulticast channel (PMCH), a physical control format indicator channel(PCFICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and a physicalhybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) are defined as the DL physicalchannels, and a reference signal and a synchronization signal aredefined as the DL physical signals. A reference signal (RS), also calleda pilot, refers to a special waveform of a predefined signal known toboth a BS and a UE. For example, a cell-specific RS (CRS), a UE-specificRS (UE-RS), a positioning RS (PRS), and channel state information RS(CSI-RS) may be defined as DL RSs. Meanwhile, the 3GPP LTE/LTE-Astandards define UL physical channels corresponding to resource elementscarrying information derived from a higher layer and UL physical signalscorresponding to resource elements which are used by a physical layerbut which do not carry information derived from a higher layer. Forexample, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH), and a physical random access channel (PRACH)are defined as the UL physical channels, and a demodulation referencesignal (DM RS) for a UL control/data signal and a sounding referencesignal (SRS) used for UL channel measurement are defined as the ULphysical signals.

In the present invention, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), aphysical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybridautomatic retransmit request indicator channel (PHICH), and a physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH) refer to a set of time-frequencyresources or resource elements (REs) carrying downlink controlinformation (DCI), a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying acontrol format indicator (CFI), a set of time-frequency resources or REscarrying downlink acknowledgement (ACK)/negative ACK (NACK), and a setof time-frequency resources or REs carrying downlink data, respectively.In addition, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a physical random access channel(PRACH) refer to a set of time-frequency resources or REs carryinguplink control information (UCI), a set of time-frequency resources orREs carrying uplink data and a set of time-frequency resources or REscarrying random access signals, respectively. In the present invention,in particular, a time-frequency resource or RE that is assigned to orbelongs to PDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACH is referred to asPDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACH RE orPDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH/PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACH time-frequency resource,respectively. Therefore, in the present invention, PUCCH/PUSCH/PRACHtransmission of a UE is conceptually identical to UCI/uplink data/randomaccess signal transmission on PUSCH/PUCCH/PRACH, respectively. Inaddition, PDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH transmission of a gNB is conceptuallyidentical to downlink data/DCI transmission on PDCCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDSCH,respectively.

Hereinafter, OFDM symbol/subcarrier/RE to or for whichCRS/DMRS/CSI-RS/SRS/UE-RS/TRS is assigned or configured will be referredto as CRS/DMRS/CSI-RS/SRS/UE-RS/TRS symbol/carrier/subcarrier/RE. Forexample, an OFDM symbol to or for which a tracking RS (TRS) is assignedor configured is referred to as a TRS symbol, a subcarrier to or forwhich the TRS is assigned or configured is referred to as a TRSsubcarrier, and an RE to or for which the TRS is assigned or configuredis referred to as a TRS RE. In addition, a subframe configured fortransmission of the TRS is referred to as a TRS subframe. Moreover, asubframe in which a broadcast signal is transmitted is referred to as abroadcast subframe or a PBCH subframe and a subframe in which asynchronization signal (e.g. PSS and/or SSS) is transmitted is referredto a synchronization signal subframe or a PSS/SSS subframe. OFDMsymbol/subcarrier/RE to or for which PSS/SSS is assigned or configuredis referred to as PSS/SSS symbol/subcarrier/RE, respectively.

In the present invention, a CRS port, a UE-RS port, a CSI-RS port, and aTRS port refer to an antenna port configured to transmit a CRS, anantenna port configured to transmit a UE-RS, an antenna port configuredto transmit a CSI-RS, and an antenna port configured to transmit a TRS,respectively. Antenna ports configured to transmit CRSs may bedistinguished from each other by the locations of REs occupied by theCRSs according to CRS ports, antenna ports configured to transmit UE-RSsmay be distinguished from each other by the locations of REs occupied bythe UE-RSs according to UE-RS ports, and antenna ports configured totransmit CSI-RSs may be distinguished from each other by the locationsof REs occupied by the CSI-RSs according to CSI-RS ports. Therefore, theterm CRS/UE-RS/CSI-RS/TRS ports may also be used to indicate a patternof REs occupied by CRSs/UE-RSs/CSI-RSs/TRSs in a predetermined resourceregion. In the present invention, both a DMRS and a UE-RS refer to RSsfor demodulation and, therefore, the terms DMRS and UE-RS are used torefer to RSs for demodulation.

For terms and technologies which are not described in detail in thepresent invention, reference can be made to the standard document of3GPP LTE/LTE-A, for example, 3GPP TS 36.211, 3GPP TS 36.212, 3GPP TS36.213, 3GPP TS 36.321, and 3GPP TS 36.331 and the standard document of3GPP NR, for example, 3GPP TS 38.211, 3GPP TS 38.212, 3GPP 38.213, 3GPP38.214, 3GPP 38.215, 3GPP TS 38.321, and 3GPP TS 36.331.

In an LTE/LTE-A system, when a UE is powered on or desires to access anew cell, the UE perform an initial cell search procedure includingacquiring time and frequency synchronization with the cell and detectinga physical layer cell identity N^(cell)ID of the cell. To this end, theUE may receive synchronization signals, for example, a primarysynchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal(SSS), from an eNB to thus establish synchronization with the eNB andacquire information such as a cell identity (ID). After the initial cellsearch procedure, the UE may perform a random access procedure tocomplete access to the eNB. To this end, the UE may transmit a preamblethrough a physical random access channel (PRACH) and receive a responsemessage to the preamble through a PDCCH and a PDSCH. After performingthe aforementioned procedures, the UE may perform PDCCH/PDSCH receptionand PUSCH/PUCCH transmission as a normal UL/DL transmission procedure.The random access procedure is also referred to as a random accesschannel (RACH) procedure. The random access procedure is used forvarious purposes including initial access, adjustment of ULsynchronization, resource assignment, and handover.

After transmitting the RACH preamble, the UE attempts to receive arandom access response (RAR) within a preset time window. Specifically,the UE attempts to detect a PDCCH with a random access radio networktemporary identifier (RA-RNTI) (hereinafter, RA-RNTI PDCCH) (e.g., CRCis masked with RA-RNTI on the PDCCH) in the time window. In detectingthe RA-RNTI PDCCH, the UE checks the PDSCH corresponding to the RA-RNTIPDCCH for presence of an RAR directed thereto. The RAR includes timingadvance (TA) information indicating timing offset information for ULsynchronization, UL resource allocation information (UL grantinformation), and a temporary UE identifier (e.g., temporary cell-RNTI(TC-RNTI)). The UE may perform UL transmission (of, e.g., Msg3)according to the resource allocation information and the TA value in theRAR. HARQ is applied to UL transmission corresponding to the RAR.Accordingly, after transmitting Msg3, the UE may receive acknowledgementinformation (e.g., PHICH) corresponding to Msg3.

FIG. 1 illustrates a random access preamble format in a legacy LTE/LTE-Asystem.

In the legacy LTE/LTE-A system, a random access preamble, i.e., a RACHpreamble, includes a cyclic prefix having a length T_(CP) and a sequencepart having a length T_(SEQ) in a physical layer. The parameter valuesT_(CP) and T_(SEQ) are listed in the following table, and depend on theframe structure and the random access configuration. Higher layerscontrol the preamble format. In the 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system, PRACHconfiguration information is signaled through system information andmobility control information of a cell. The PRACH configurationinformation indicates a root sequence index, a cyclic shift unit N_(CS)of a Zadoff-Chu sequence, the length of the root sequence, and apreamble format, which are to be used for a RACH procedure in the cell.In the 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system, a PRACH opportunity, which is a timing atwhich the preamble format and the RACH preamble may be transmitted, isindicated by a PRACH configuration index, which is a part of the RACHconfiguration information (refer to Section 5.7 of 3GPP TS 36.211 and“PRACH-Config” of 3GPP TS 36.331). The length of the Zadoff-Chu sequenceused for the RACH preamble is determined according to the preambleformat (refer to Table 4)

TABLE 1 Preamble format T_(CP) T_(SEQ) 0  3168 · T_(s) 24576 · T_(s) 121024 · T_(s) 24576 · T_(s) 2  6240 · T_(s) 2 · 24576 · T_(s)   3 21024· T_(s) 2 · 24576 · T_(s)   4  448 · T_(s)  4096 · T_(s)

In the LTE/LTE-A system, the RACH preamble is transmitted in a ULsubframe. The transmission of a random access preamble is restricted tocertain time and frequency resources. These resources are called PRACHresources, and enumerated in increasing order of the subframe numberwithin the radio frame and the PRBs in the frequency domain such thatindex 0 correspond to the lowest numbered PRB and subframe within theradio frame. Random access resources are defined according to the PRACHconfiguration index (refer to the standard document of 3GPP TS 36.211).The PRACH configuration index is given by a higher layer signal(transmitted by an eNB).

The sequence part of the RACH preamble (hereinafter, preamble sequence)uses a Zadoff-Chu sequence. The preamble sequences for RACH aregenerated from Zadoff-Chu sequences with zero correlation zone,generated from one or several root Zadoff-Chu sequences. The networkconfigures the set of preamble sequences the UE is allowed to use. Inthe legacy LTE/LTE-A system, there are 64 preambles available in eachcell. The set of 64 preamble sequences in a cell is found by includingfirst, in the order of increasing cyclic shift, all the available cyclicshifts of a root Zadoff-Chu sequence with the logical indexRACH_ROOT_SEQUENCE, where RACH_ROOT_SEQUENCE is broadcasted as part ofthe system information. Additional preamble sequences, in case 64preambles cannot be generated from a single root Zadoff-Chu sequence,are obtained from the root sequences with the consecutive logicalindexes until all the 64 sequences are found. The logical root sequenceorder is cyclic: the logical index 0 is consecutive to 837. The relationbetween a logical root sequence index and physical root sequence index uis given by Table 2 and Table 3 for preamble formats 0˜3 and 4,respectively.

TABLE 2 Logical root sequence Physical root sequence number u (inincreasing order of 

number corresponding logical sequnce number)  0~23 129, 710, 140, 699,120, 719, 210, 629, 168, 671, 84, 755, 105, 734, 93, 746, 70, 769, 60,779, 2, 837, 1, 838 24~29 56, 783, 112, 727, 148, 691 30~35 80, 759, 42,797, 40, 799 36~41 35, 804, 73, 766, 146, 693 42~51 31, 808, 28, 811,30, 809, 27, 812, 29, 810 52~63 24, 815, 48, 791, 68, 771, 74, 765, 178,661, 136, 703 64~75 86, 753, 78, 761, 43, 796, 39, 800, 20, 819, 21, 81876~89 95, 744, 202, 637, 190, 649, 181, 658, 137, 702, 125, 714, 151,688  90~115 217, 622, 128, 711, 142, 697, 122, 717, 203, 636, 118, 721,110, 729, 89, 750, 103, 736, 61, 778, 55, 784, 15, 824, 14, 825 116~13512, 827, 23, 816, 34, 805, 37, 802, 46, 793, 207, 632, 179, 660, 145,694, 130, 709, 223, 616 136~167 228, 611, 227, 612, 132, 707, 133, 706,143, 696, 135, 704, 161, 678, 201, 638, 173, 666, 106, 733, 83, 756, 91,748, 66, 773, 53, 786, 10, 829, 9, 830 168~203 7, 832, 8, 831, 16, 823,47, 792, 64, 775, 57, 782, 104, 735, 101, 738, 108, 731, 208, 631, 184,655, 197, 642, 191, 648, 121, 718, 141, 698, 149, 690, 216, 623, 218,621 204~263 152, 687, 144, 695, 134, 705, 138, 701, 199, 640, 162, 677,176, 663, 119, 720, 158, 681, 164, 675, 174, 665, 171, 668, 170, 669,87, 752, 169, 670, 88, 751, 107, 732, 81, 758, 82, 757, 100, 739, 98,741, 71, 768, 59, 780, 65, 774, 50, 789, 49, 790, 26, 813, 17, 822, 13,826, 6, 833 264~327 5, 834, 33, 806, 51, 788, 75, 764, 99, 740, 96, 743,97, 742, 166, 673, 172, 667, 175, 664, 187, 652, 163, 676, 185, 654,200, 639, 114, 725, 189, 650, 115, 724, 194, 645, 195, 644, 192, 647,182, 657, 157, 682, 156, 683, 211, 628, 154, 685, 123, 716, 139, 700,212, 627, 153, 686, 213, 626, 215, 624, 150, 689 328~383 225, 614, 224,615, 221, 618, 220, 619, 127, 712, 147, 692, 124, 715, 193, 646, 205,634, 206, 633, 116, 723, 160, 679, 186, 653, 167, 672, 79, 760, 85, 754,77, 762, 92, 747, 58, 781, 62, 777, 69, 770, 54, 785, 36, 803, 32, 807,25, 814, 18, 821, 11, 828, 4, 835 384~455 3, 836, 19, 820, 22, 817, 41,798, 38, 801, 44, 795, 52, 787, 45, 794, 63, 776, 67, 772, 72, 767, 76,763, 94, 745, 102, 737, 90, 749, 109, 730, 165, 674, 111, 728, 209, 630,204, 635, 117, 722, 188, 651, 159, 680, 198, 641, 113, 726, 183, 656,180, 659, 177, 662, 196, 643, 155, 684, 214, 625, 126, 713, 131, 708,219, 620, 222, 617, 226, 613 456~513 230, 609, 232, 607, 262, 577, 252,587, 418, 421, 416, 423, 413, 426, 411, 428, 376, 463, 395, 444, 283,556, 285, 554, 379, 460, 390, 449, 363, 476, 384, 455, 388, 451, 386,453, 361, 478, 387, 452, 360, 479, 310, 529, 354, 485, 328, 511, 315,524, 337, 502, 349, 490, 335, 504, 324, 515 514~561 323, 516, 320, 519,334, 505, 359, 480, 295, 544, 385, 454, 292, 547, 291, 548, 381, 458,399, 440, 380, 459, 397, 442, 369, 470, 377, 462, 410, 429, 407, 432,281, 558, 414, 425, 247, 592, 277, 562, 271, 568, 272, 567, 264, 575,259, 580 562~629 237, 602, 239, 600, 244, 595, 243, 596, 275, 564, 278,561, 250, 589, 246, 593, 417, 422, 248, 591, 394, 445, 393, 446, 370,469, 365, 474, 300, 539, 299, 540, 364, 475, 362, 477, 298, 541, 312,527, 313, 526, 314, 525, 353, 486, 352, 487, 343, 496, 327, 512, 350,489, 326, 513, 319, 520, 332, 507, 333, 506, 348, 491, 347, 492, 322,517 630~659 330, 509, 338, 501, 341, 498, 340, 499, 342, 497, 301, 538,366, 473, 401, 438, 371, 468, 408, 431, 375, 464, 249, 590, 269, 570,238, 601, 234, 605 660~707 257, 582, 273, 566, 255, 584, 254, 585, 245,594, 251, 588, 412, 427, 372, 467, 282, 557, 403, 436, 396, 443, 392,447, 391, 448, 382, 457, 389, 450, 294, 545, 297, 542, 311, 528, 344,495, 345, 494, 318, 521, 331, 508, 325, 514, 321, 518 708~729 346, 493,339, 500, 351, 488, 306, 533, 289, 550, 400, 439, 378, 461, 374, 465,415, 424, 270, 569, 241, 598 730~751 231, 608, 260, 579, 268, 571, 276,563, 409, 430, 398, 441, 290, 549, 304, 535, 308, 531, 358, 481, 316,523 752~765 293, 546, 288, 551, 284, 555, 368, 471, 253, 586, 256, 583,263, 576 766~777 242, 597, 274, 565, 402, 437, 383, 456, 357, 482, 329,510 778~789 317, 522, 307, 532, 286, 553, 287, 552, 266, 573, 261, 578790~795 236, 603, 303, 536, 356, 483 796~803 355, 484, 405, 434, 404,435, 406, 433 804~809 235, 604, 267, 572, 302, 537 810~815 309, 530,265, 574, 233, 606 816~819 367, 472, 296, 543 820~837 336, 503, 305,534, 373, 466, 280, 559, 279, 560, 419, 420, 240, 599, 258, 581, 229,610

TABLE 3 Logical root Physical root sequence number u sequence number (inincreasing order of the corresponding logical sequence number)  0-19 1138 2 137 3 136 4 135 5 134 6 133 7 132 8 131 9 130 10 129 20-39 11 12812 127 13 126 14 125 15 124 16 123 17 122 18 121 19 120 20 119 40-59 21118 22 117 23 116 24 115 25 114 26 113 27 112 28 111 29 110 30 109 60-7931 108 32 107 33 106 34 105 35 104 36 103 37 102 38 101 39 100 40 9980-99 41 98 42 97 43 96 44 95 45 94 46 93 47 92 48 91 49 90 50 89100-119 51 88 52 87 53 86 54 85 55 84 56 83 57 82 58 81 59 80 60 79120-137 61 78 62 77 63 76 64 75 65 74 66 73 67 72 68 71 69 70 — —138-837 N/A

u-th root Zadoff-Chu sequence is defined by the following equation.

$\begin{matrix}{{{x_{u}(n)} = e^{{- j}\frac{\pi\;{{un}{({n + 1})}}}{N_{ZC}}}},{0 \leq n \leq {N_{ZC} - 1}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1}\end{matrix}$

TABLE 4 Preamble format N_(ZC) 0~3 839 4 139

From the u-th root Zadoff-Chu sequence, random access preambles withzero correlation zones of length N_(ZC)−1 are defined by cyclic shiftsaccording to x_(u,v)(n)=x_(u)((n+C_(v)) mod N_(ZC)), where the cyclicshift is given by the following equation.

$\begin{matrix}{\mspace{650mu}{{{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2}{C_{v} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{vN}_{CS} & \begin{matrix}{{v = 0},1,\ldots\mspace{14mu},} \\{{\left\lfloor {N_{ZC}/N_{CS}} \right\rfloor - 1},{N_{CS} \neq 0}}\end{matrix} & {{for}\mspace{14mu}{unrestricted}\mspace{14mu}{sets}} \\0 & {N_{CS} = 0} & {{for}\mspace{14mu}{unrestricted}\mspace{14mu}{sets}} \\\begin{matrix}{{d_{start}\left\lfloor {v/n_{shift}^{RA}} \right\rfloor} +} \\{\left( {v\;{{mod}n}_{shift}^{RA}} \right)N_{CS}}\end{matrix} & \begin{matrix}{{v = 0},1,\ldots\mspace{14mu},} \\\begin{matrix}{{n_{shift}^{RA}n_{group}^{RA}} +} \\{{\overset{\_}{n}}_{shift}^{RA} - 1}\end{matrix}\end{matrix} & {{for}\mspace{14mu}{restricted}\mspace{14mu}{sets}}\end{matrix} \right.}}} & \;\end{matrix}$

N_(CS) is given by Table 5 for preamble formats 0˜3 and by Table 6 forpreamble format 4.

TABLE 5 N_(CS) value zeroCorrelationZoneConfig Unrestricted setRestricted set 0 0 15 1 13 18 2 15 22 3 18 26 4 22 32 5 26 38 6 32 46 738 55 8 46 68 9 59 82 10 76 100 11 93 128 12 119 158 13 167 202 14 279237 15 419 —

TABLE 6 zeroCorrelationZoneConfig N_(CS) value 0 2 1 4 2 6 3 8 4 10 5 126 15 7 N/A 8 N/A 9 N/A 10 N/A 11 N/A 12 N/A 13 N/A 14 N/A 15 N/A

The parameter zeroCorrelationZoneConfig is provided by higher layers.The parameter High-speed-flag provided by higher layers determines ifunrestricted set or restricted set shall be used.

The variable d_(u) is the cyclic shift corresponding to a Doppler shiftof magnitude 1/T_(SEQ) and is given by the following equation.

$\begin{matrix}{d_{u} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}p & {0 \leq p < {N_{ZC}/2}} \\{N_{ZC} - p} & {otherwise}\end{matrix} \right.} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 3}\end{matrix}$

p is the smallest non-negative integer that fulfils (pu) mod N_(ZC)=1.The parameters for restricted sets of cyclic shifts depend on d_(u). ForN_(ZC)≤d_(u)<N_(ZC)/3, the parameters are given by the followingequation.n _(shift) ^(RA) =└d _(u) /N _(CS)┘d _(start)=2d _(u) +n _(shift) ^(RA) N _(CS)n _(group) ^(RA) =└N _(ZC) /d _(start┘)n _(shift) ^(RA)=max(└N _(ZC)−2d _(u) −n _(group) ^(RA) d _(start))/N_(CS) ┘,O)  Equation 4

For N_(ZC)/3≤d_(u)<(N_(ZC)−N_(CS))/2, the parameters are given by thefollowing equation.n _(shift) ^(RA) =└N _(ZC)−2d _(u))/N _(CS)┘d _(start) =N _(ZC)−2d _(u) +n _(shift) ^(RA) N _(CS)n _(group) ^(RA) =└d _(u) /d _(start┘)n _(shift) ^(RA)=min(max(└d _(u) −n _(group) ^(RA) d _(start))/N _(CS)┘,O),n _(shift) ^(RA))  Equation 5

For all other values of d_(n), there are no cyclic shifts in therestricted set.

The time-continuous random access signal s(t) which is the basebandsignal of RACH is defined by the following Equation.

$\begin{matrix}{{s(t)} = {\beta_{PRACH}{\sum\limits_{k = 0}^{N_{ZC} - 1}{\sum\limits_{n = 0}^{N_{ZC} - 1}{{x_{u,v}(n)} \cdot e^{{- j}\frac{2\pi\;{nk}}{N_{ZC}}} \cdot e^{j\; 2\;{\pi{({k + \varphi + {K{({k_{0} + \frac{1}{2}})}}})}}\Delta\;{f_{RA}{({t - T_{CP}})}}}}}}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 6}\end{matrix}$

where 0≤t<T_(SEQ)−T_(CP), β_(PRACH) is an amplitude scaling factor inorder to conform to the transmit power specified in 3GPP TS 36.211, andk₀=n^(RA) _(PRB)N^(RB) _(sc)−N^(UL) _(RB)N^(RB) _(sc)/2. N^(RB) _(sc)denotes the number of subcarriers constituting one resource block (RB).N^(UL) _(BR) denotes the number of RBs in a UL slot and depends on a ULtransmission bandwidth. The location in the frequency domain iscontrolled by the parameter n^(RA) _(PRB) is derived from the section5.7.1 of 3GPP TS 36.211. The factor K=Δƒ/Δƒ_(RA) accounts for thedifference in subcarrier spacing between the random access preamble anduplink data transmission. The variable Δƒ_(RA), the subcarrier spacingfor the random access preamble, and the variable φ, a fixed offsetdetermining the frequency-domain location of the random access preamblewithin the physical resource blocks, are both given by the followingtable.

TABLE 7 Preamble format Δf_(RA) φ 0~3 1250 Hz 7 4 7500 Hz 2

In the LTE/LTE-A system, a subcarrier spacing Δƒ is 15 kHz or 7.5 kHz.However, as given by Table 7, a subcarrier spacing Δƒ_(RA) for a randomaccess preamble is 1.25 kHz or 0.75 kHz.

As more communication devices have demanded higher communicationcapacity, there has been necessity of enhanced mobile broadband relativeto legacy radio access technology (RAT). In addition, massive machinetype communication for providing various services irrespective of timeand place by connecting a plurality of devices and objects to each otheris one main issue to be considered in future-generation communication.Further, a communication system design in which services/UEs sensitiveto reliability and latency are considered is under discussion. Theintroduction of future-generation RAT has been discussed by taking intoconsideration enhanced mobile broadband communication, massive MTC,ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC), and the like. Incurrent 3GPP, a study of the future-generation mobile communicationsystem after EPC is being conducted. In the present invention, thecorresponding technology is referred to as a new RAT (NR) or 5G RAT, forconvenience.

An NR communication system demands that much better performance than alegacy fourth generation (4G) system be supported in terms of data rate,capacity, latency, energy consumption, and cost. Accordingly, the NRsystem needs to make progress in terms of bandwidth, spectrum, energy,signaling efficiency, and cost per bit.

<OFDM Numerology>

The new RAT system uses an OFDM transmission scheme or a similartransmission scheme. The new RAT system may follow the OFDM parametersdifferent from OFDM parameters of the LTE system. Alternatively, the newRAT system may conform to numerology of the legacy LTE/LTE-A system butmay have a broader system bandwidth (e.g., 100 MHz) than the legacyLTE/LTE-A system. One cell may support a plurality of numerologies. Thatis, UEs that operate with different numerologies may coexist within onecell.

<Subframe Structure>

In the 3GPP LTE/LTE-A system, radio frame is 10 ms (307,200 T_(s)) induration. The radio frame is divided into 10 subframes of equal size.Subframe numbers may be assigned to the 10 subframes within one radioframe, respectively. Here, T_(s) denotes sampling time whereT_(s)=1/(2048*15 kHz). The basic time unit for LTE is T_(s). Eachsubframe is 1 ms long and is further divided into two slots. 20 slotsare sequentially numbered from 0 to 19 in one radio frame. Duration ofeach slot is 0.5 ms. A time interval in which one subframe istransmitted is defined as a transmission time interval (TTI). Timeresources may be distinguished by a radio frame number (or radio frameindex), a subframe number (or subframe index), a slot number (or slotindex), and the like. The TTI refers to an interval during which datacan be scheduled. For example, in a current LTE/LTE-A system, atransmission opportunity of a UL grant or a DL grant is present every 1ms and several transmission opportunities of the UL/DL grant are notpresent within a shorter time than 1 ms. Therefore, the TTI in thelegacy LTE/LTE-A system is 1 ms.

FIG. 2 illustrates a slot structure available in a new radio accesstechnology (NR).

To minimize data transmission latency, in a 5G new RAT, a slot structurein which a control channel and a data channel aretime-division-multiplexed is considered.

In FIG. 2, the hatched area represents the transmission region of a DLcontrol channel (e.g., PDCCH) carrying the DCI, and the black arearepresents the transmission region of a UL control channel (e.g., PUCCH)carrying the UCI. Here, the DCI is control information that the gNBtransmits to the UE. The DCI may include information on cellconfiguration that the UE should know, DL specific information such asDL scheduling, and UL specific information such as UL grant. The UCI iscontrol information that the UE transmits to the gNB. The UCI mayinclude a HARQ ACK/NACK report on the DL data, a CSI report on the DLchannel status, and a scheduling request (SR).

In FIG. 2, the region of symbols from symbol index 1 to symbol index 12may be used for transmission of a physical channel (e.g., a PDSCH)carrying downlink data, or may be used for transmission of a physicalchannel (e.g., PUSCH) carrying uplink data. According to the slotstructure of FIG. 2, DL transmission and UL transmission may besequentially performed in one slot, and thus transmission/reception ofDL data and reception/transmission of UL ACK/NACK for the DL data may beperformed in one slot. As a result, the time taken to retransmit datawhen a data transmission error occurs may be reduced, thereby minimizingthe latency of final data transmission.

In such a slot structure, a time gap is needed for the process ofswitching from the transmission mode to the reception mode or from thereception mode to the transmission mode of the gNB and UE. On behalf ofthe process of switching between the transmission mode and the receptionmode, some OFDM symbols at the time of switching from DL to UL in theslot structure are set as a guard period (GP).

In the legacy LTE/LTE-A system, a DL control channel istime-division-multiplexed with a data channel and a PDCCH, which is acontrol channel, is transmitted throughout an entire system band.However, in the new RAT, it is expected that a bandwidth of one systemreaches approximately a minimum of 100 MHz and it is difficult todistribute the control channel throughout the entire band fortransmission of the control channel. For data transmission/reception ofa UE, if the entire band is monitored to receive the DL control channel,this may cause increase in battery consumption of the UE anddeterioration in efficiency. Accordingly, in the present invention, theDL control channel may be locally transmitted or distributivelytransmitted in a partial frequency band in a system band, i.e., achannel band.

In the NR system, a basic transmission unit is a slot. A slot durationmay consist of 14 symbols with a normal cyclic prefix (CP) or 12 symbolswith an extended CP. The slot is scaled in time as a function of a usedsubcarrier spacing. That is, if the subcarrier spacing increases, thelength of the slot is shortened. For example, when the number of symbolsper slot is 14, the number of slots in a 10-ms frame is 10 at asubcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 20 at a subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, and40 at a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz. If a subcarrier spacing increases,the length of OFDM symbols is shortened. The number of OFDM symbols in aslot depends on whether the OFDM symbols have a normal CP or an extendedCP and does not vary according to subcarrier spacing. A basic time unitused in the LTE system, T_(s), is defined as T_(s)=1/(15000*2048)seconds in consideration of a basic subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and amaximum TFT size 2048 of the LTE system and corresponds to a samplingtime for a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz. In the NR system, varioussubcarrier lengths in addition to the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz maybe used. Since the subcarrier spacing and a corresponding time lengthare inversely proportional, an actual sampling time corresponding tosubcarrier spacings greater than 15 kHz is shorter thanT_(s)=1/(15000*2048) seconds. For example, actual sampling times forsubcarrier spacings of 30 kHz, 60 kHz, and 120 kHz will be1/(2*15000*2048) seconds, 1/(4*15000*2048) seconds, and 1/(8*15000*2048)seconds, respectively.

<Analog Beamforming>

A recently discussed fifth generation (5G) mobile communication systemis considering using an ultrahigh frequency band, i.e., a millimeterfrequency band equal to or higher than 6 GHz, to transmit data to aplurality of users in a wide frequency band while maintaining a hightransmission rate. In 3GPP, this system is used as NR and, in thepresent invention, this system will be referred to as an NR system.Since the millimeter frequency band uses too high a frequency band, afrequency characteristic thereof exhibits very sharp signal attenuationdepending on distance. Therefore, in order to correct a sharppropagation attenuation characteristic, the NR system using a band of atleast above 6 GHz uses a narrow beam transmission scheme to solve acoverage decrease problem caused by sharp propagation attenuation bytransmitting signals in a specific direction so as to focus energyrather than in all directions. However, if a signal transmission serviceis provided using only one narrow beam, since a range serviced by one BSbecomes narrow, the BS provides a broadband service by gathering aplurality of narrow beams.

In the millimeter frequency band, i.e., millimeter wave (mmW) band, thewavelength is shortened, and thus a plurality of antenna elements may beinstalled in the same area. For example, a total of 100 antenna elementsmay be installed in a 5-by-5 cm panel in a 30 GHz band with a wavelengthof about 1 cm in a 2-dimensional array at intervals of 0.5.(wavelength). Therefore, in mmW, increasing the coverage or thethroughput by increasing the beamforming (BF) gain using multipleantenna elements is taken into consideration.

As a method of forming a narrow beam in the millimeter frequency band, abeamforming scheme is mainly considered in which the BS or the UEtransmits the same signal using a proper phase difference through alarge number of antennas so that energy increases only in a specificdirection. Such a beamforming scheme includes digital beamforming forimparting a phase difference to a digital baseband signal, analogbeamforming for imparting a phase difference to a modulated analogsignal using time latency (i.e., cyclic shift), and hybrid beamformingusing both digital beamforming and analog beamforming. If a transceiverunit (TXRU) is provided for each antenna element to enable adjustment oftransmit power and phase, independent beamforming is possible for eachfrequency resource. However, installing TXRU in all of the about 100antenna elements is less feasible in terms of cost. That is, themillimeter frequency band needs to use numerous antennas to correct thesharp propagation attenuation characteristic. Digital beamformingrequires as many radio frequency (RF) components (e.g., adigital-to-analog converter (DAC), a mixer, a power amplifier, a linearamplifier, etc.) as the number of antennas. Therefore, if digitalbeamforming is desired to be implemented in the millimeter frequencyband, cost of communication devices increases. Hence, when a largenumber of antennas is needed as in the millimeter frequency band, use ofanalog beamforming or hybrid beamforming is considered. In the analogbeamforming method, multiple antenna elements are mapped to one TXRU anda beam direction is adjusted using an analog phase shifter. This analogbeamforming method may only make one beam direction in the whole band,and thus may not perform frequency selective beamforming (BF), which isdisadvantageous. The hybrid BF method is an intermediate type of digitalBF and analog BF and uses B TXRUs less in number than Q antennaelements. In the case of hybrid BF, the number of directions in whichbeams may be transmitted at the same time is limited to B or less, whichdepends on the method of collection of B TXRUs and Q antenna elements.

As mentioned above, digital BF may simultaneously transmit or receivesignals in multiple directions using multiple beams by processing adigital baseband signal to be transmitted or received, whereas analog BFcannot simultaneously transmit or receive signals in multiple directionsexceeding a coverage range of one beam by performing BF in a state inwhich an analog signal to be transmitted or received is modulated.Typically, the BS simultaneously performs communication with a pluralityof users using broadband transmission or multi-antenna characteristics.If the BS uses analog or hybrid BF and forms an analog beam in one beamdirection, the eNB communicates with only users included in the sameanalog beam direction due to an analog BF characteristic. A RACHresource allocation method and a resource use method of the BS accordingto the present invention, which will be described later, are proposedconsidering restrictions caused by the analog BF or hybrid BFcharacteristic.

<Hybrid Analog Beamforming>

FIG. 3 abstractly illustrates TXRUs and a hybrid BF structure in termsof physical antennas.

When a plurality of antennas is used, a hybrid BF method in whichdigital BF and analog BF are combined is considered. Analog BF (or RFBF) refers to an operation in which an RF unit performs precoding (orcombining). In hybrid BF, each of a baseband unit and the RF unit (alsoreferred to as a transceiver) performs precoding (or combining) so thatperformance approximating to digital BF can be obtained while the numberof RF chains and the number of digital-to-analog (D/A) (oranalog-to-digital (A/D)) converters is reduced. For convenience, thehybrid BF structure may be expressed as N TXRUs and M physical antennas.Digital BF for L data layers to be transmitted by a transmitter may beexpressed as an N-by-L matrix. Next, N converted digital signals areconverted into analog signals through the TXRUs and analog BF expressedas an M-by-N matrix is applied to the analog signals. In FIG. 3, thenumber of digital beams is L and the number of analog beams is N. In theNR system, the BS is designed so as to change analog BF in units ofsymbols and efficient BF support for a UE located in a specific regionis considered. If the N TXRUs and the M RF antennas are defined as oneantenna panel, the NR system considers even a method of introducingplural antenna panels to which independent hybrid BF is applicable. Inthis way, when the BS uses a plurality of analog beams, since whichanalog beam is favorable for signal reception may differ according toeach UE, a beam sweeping operation is considered so that, for at least asynchronization signal, system information, and paging, all UEs may havereception opportunities by changing a plurality of analog beams, thatthe BS is to apply, according to symbols in a specific slot or subframe.

Recently, a 3GPP standardization organization is considering networkslicing to achieve a plurality of logical networks in a single physicalnetwork in a new RAT system, i.e., the NR system, which is a 5G wirelesscommunication system. The logical networks should be capable ofsupporting various services (e.g., eMBB, mMTC, URLLC, etc.) havingvarious requirements. A physical layer system of the NR system considersa method supporting an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)scheme using variable numerologies according to various services. Inother words, the NR system may consider the OFDM scheme (or multipleaccess scheme) using independent numerologies in respective time andfrequency resource regions.

Recently, as data traffic remarkably increases with appearance ofsmartphone devices, the NR system needs to support of highercommunication capacity (e.g., data throughput). One method considered toraise the communication capacity is to transmit data using a pluralityof transmission (or reception) antennas. If digital BF is desired to beapplied to the multiple antennas, each antenna requires an RF chain(e.g., a chain consisting of RF elements such as a power amplifier and adown converter) and a D/A or A/D converter. This structure increaseshardware complexity and consumes high power which may not be practical.Accordingly, when multiple antennas are used, the NR system considersthe above-mentioned hybrid BF method in which digital BF and analog BFare combined.

FIG. 4 illustrates a cell of a new radio access technology (NR) system.

Referring to FIG. 4, in the NR system, a method in which a plurality oftransmission and reception points (TRPs) form one cell is beingdiscussed unlike a wireless communication system of legacy LTE in whichone BS forms one cell. If the plural TRPs form one cell, seamlesscommunication can be provided even when a TRP that provides a service toa UE is changed so that mobility management of the UE is facilitated.

In an LTE/LTE-A system, a PSS/SSS is transmitted omni-directionally.Meanwhile, a method is considered in which a gNB which uses millimeterwave (mmWave) transmits a signal such as a PSS/SSS/PBCH through BF whilesweeping beam directions omni-directionally. Transmission/reception of asignal while sweeping beam directions is referred to as beam sweeping orbeam scanning. In the present invention, “beam sweeping” represents abehavior of a transmitter and “beam scanning” represents a behavior of areceiver. For example, assuming that the gNB may have a maximum of Nbeam directions, the gNB transmits a signal such as a PSS/SSS/PBCH ineach of the N beam directions. That is, the gNB transmits asynchronization signal such as the PSS/SSS/PBCH in each direction whilesweeping directions that the gNB can have or the gNB desires to support.Alternatively, when the gNB can form N beams, one beam group may beconfigured by grouping a few beams and the PSS/SSS/PBCH may betransmitted/received with respect to each beam group. In this case, onebeam group includes one or more beams. The signal such as thePSS/SSS/PBCH transmitted in the same direction may be defined as onesynchronization (SS) block and a plurality of SS blocks may be presentin one cell. When the plural SS blocks are present, SS block indexes maybe used to distinguish between the SS blocks. For example, if thePSS/SSS/PBCH is transmitted in 10 beam directions in one system, thePSS/SSS/PBCH transmitted in the same direction may constitute one SSblock and it may be understood that 10 SS blocks are present in thesystem. In the present invention, a beam index may be interpreted as anSS block index.

FIG. 5 illustrates transmission of an SS block and a RACH resourcelinked to the SS block.

To communicate with one UE, the gNB should acquire an optimal beamdirection between the gNB and the UE and should continuously track theoptimal beam direction because the optimal beam direction is changed asthe UE moves. A procedure of acquiring the optimal beam directionbetween the gNB and the UE is referred to as a beam acquisitionprocedure and a procedure of continuously tracking the optimal beamdirection is referred to as a beam tracking procedure. The beamacquisition procedure is needed for 1) initial access in which the UEfirst attempts to access the gNB, 2) handover in which the UE is handedover from one gNB to another gNB, or 3) beam recovery for recoveringfrom a state in which the UE and gNB cannot maintain an optimalcommunication state or enter a communication impossible state, i.e.,beam failure, as a result of losing an optimal beam while performingbeam tracking for searching for the optimal beam between the UE and thegNB.

In the case of the NR system which is under development, a multi-stagebeam acquisition procedure is under discussion, for beam acquisition inan environment using multiple beams. In the multi-stage beam acquisitionprocedure, the gNB and the UE perform connection setup using a wide beamin an initial access stage and, after connection setup is ended, the gNBand the UE perform communication with optimal quality using a narrowband. In the present invention, although various methods for beamacquisition of the NR system are mainly discussed, the most activelydiscussed method at present is as follows.

1) The gNB transmits an SS block per wide beam in order for the UE tosearch for the gNB in an initial access procedure, i.e., performs cellsearch or cell acquisition, and to search for an optimal wide beam to beused in a first stage of beam acquisition by measuring channel qualityof each wide beam. 2) The UE performs cell search for an SS block perbeam and performs DL beam acquisition using a cell detection result ofeach beam. 3) The UE performs a RACH procedure in order to inform thegNB that the UE will access the gNB that the UE has discovered. 4) ThegNB connects or associates the SS block transmitted per beam and a RACHresource to be used for RACH transmission, in order to cause the UE toinform the gNB of a result of the RACH procedure and simultaneously aresult of DL beam acquisition (e.g., beam index) at a wide beam level.If the UE performs the RACH procedure using a RACH resource connected toan optimal beam direction that the UE has discovered, the gNB obtainsinformation about a DL beam suitable for the UE in a procedure ofreceiving a RACH preamble.

<Beam Correspondence (BC)>

In a multi-beam environment, whether a UE and/or a TRP can accuratelydetermine a transmission (Tx) or reception (Rx) beam direction betweenthe UE and the TRP is problematic. In the multi-beam environment, signaltransmission repetition or beam sweeping for signal reception may beconsidered according to a Tx/Rx reciprocal capability of the TRP (e.g.,eNB) or the UE. The Tx/Rx reciprocal capability is also referred to asTx/Rx beam correspondence (BC) in the TRP and the UE. In the multi-beamenvironment, if the Tx/Rx reciprocal capability in the TRP or the UEdoes not hold, the UE may not transmit a UL signal in a beam directionin which the UE has received a DL signal because an optimal path of ULmay be different from an optimal path of DL. Tx/Rx BC in the TRP holds,if the TRP can determine a TRP Rx beam for UL reception based on DLmeasurement of UE for one or more Tx beams of the TRP and/or if the TRPcan determine a TRP Tx beam for DL transmission based on UL measurementfor one or more Rx beams of the TRP. Tx/Rx BC in the UE holds if the UEcan determine a UE Rx beam for UL transmission based on DL measurementof UE for one or more Rx beams of the UE and/or if the UE can determinea UE Tx beam for DL reception according to indication of the TRP basedon UL measurement for one or more Tx beams of the UE.

In the LTE system and the NR system, a RACH signal used for initialaccess to the gNB, i.e., initial access to the gNB through a cell usedby the gNB, may be configured using the following elements.

Cyclic prefix (CP): This element serves to prevent interferencegenerated from a previous/front (OFDM) symbol and group RACH preamblesignals arriving at the gNB with various time delays into one time zone.That is, if the CP is configured to match a maximum radius of a cell,RACH preambles that UEs in the cell have transmitted in the sameresource are included in a RACH reception window corresponding to thelength of RACH preambles configured by the gNB for RACH reception. A CPlength is generally set to be equal to or greater than a maximum roundtrip delay.

Preamble: A sequence used by the gNB to detect signal transmission isdefined and the preamble serves to carry this sequence.

Guard time (GT): This element is defined to cause a RACH signal arrivingat the gNB with delay from the farthest distance from the gNB on RACHcoverage not to create interference with respect to a signal arrivingafter a RACH symbol duration. During this GT, the UE does not transmit asignal so that the GT may not be defined as the RACH signal.

FIG. 6 illustrates configuration/format of a RACH preamble and areceiver function.

The UE transmits a RACH signal through a designated RACH resource at asystem timing of the gNB obtained through an SS. The gNB receivessignals from multiple UEs. Generally, the gNB performs the procedureillustrated in FIG. 5 for RACH signal reception. Since a CP for the RACHsignal is set to a maximum round trip delay or more, the gNB mayconfigure an arbitrary point between the maximum round trip delay andthe CP length as a boundary for signal reception. If the boundary isdetermined as a start point for signal reception and if correlation isapplied to a signal of a length corresponding to a sequence length fromthe start point, the gNB may acquire information as to whether the RACHsignal is present and information about the CP.

If a communication environment operated by the gNB such as a millimeterband uses multiple beams, the RACH signal arrives at the eNB frommultiple directions and the gNB needs to detect the RACH preamble (i.e.,PRACH) while sweeping beam directions to receive the RACH signalarriving from multiple directions. As mentioned above, when analog BF isused, the gNB performs RACH reception only in one direction at onetiming. For this reason, it is necessary to design the RACH preamble anda RACH procedure so that the gNB may properly detect the RACH preamble.The present invention proposes the RACH preamble and/or the RACHprocedure for a high frequency band to which the NR system, especially,BF, is applicable in consideration of the case in which BC of the gNBholds and the case in which BC does not hold.

FIG. 7 illustrates a reception (Rx) beam formed at a gNB to receive aRACH preamble.

If BC does not hold, beam directions may be mismatched even when the gNBforms an Rx beam in a Tx beam direction of an SS block in a state inwhich a RACH resource is linked to the SS block. Therefore, a RACHpreamble may be configured in a format illustrated in FIG. 7(a) so thatthe gNB may perform beam scanning for performing/attempting to performRACH preamble detection in multiple directions while sweeping Rx beams.Meanwhile, if BC holds, since the RACH resource is linked to the SSblock, the gNB may form an Rx beam in a direction used to transmit theSS block with respect to one RACH resource and detect the RACH preambleonly in that direction. Therefore, the RACH preamble may be configuredin a format illustrated in FIG. 7(b).

As described previously, a RACH signal and a RACH resource should beconfigured in consideration of two purposes of a DL beam acquisitionreport and a DL preferred beam report of the UE and beam scanning of thegNB according to BC.

FIG. 8 illustrates a RACH signal and a RACH resource to explain termsused to describe the present invention. In the present invention, theRACH signal may be configured as follows.

RACH resource element: The RACH resource element is a basic unit usedwhen the UE transmits the RACH signal. Since different RACH resourceelements may be used for RACH signal transmission by different UEs,respectively, a CP is inserted into the RACH signal in each RACHresource element. Protection for signals between UEs is alreadymaintained by the CP and, therefore, a GT is not needed between RACHresource elements.

RACH resource: The RACH resource is defined as a set of concatenatedRACH resource elements connected to one SS block. If RACH resources areconsecutively allocated contiguously, two successive RACH resources maybe used for signal transmission by different UEs, respectively, like theRACH resource elements. Therefore, the CP may be inserted into the RACHsignal in each RACH resource. The GT is unnecessary between RACHresources because signal detection distortion caused by time delay isprevented by the CP. However, if only one RACH resource is configured,i.e., RACH resources are not consecutively configured, since aPUSCH/PUCCH may be allocated after the RACH resource, the GT may beinserted in front of the PUSCH/PUCCH.

RACH resource set: The RACH resource set is a set of concatenated RACHresources. If multiple SS blocks are present in a cell and RACHresources connected respectively to the multiple SS blocks areconcatenated, the concatenated RACH resources may be defined as one RACHresource set. The GT is inserted into the last of the RACH resource setwhich is a part where the RACH resource set including RACH resources andanother signal such as a PUSCH/PUCCH may be encountered. As mentionedabove, since the GT is a duration during which a signal is nottransmitted, the GT may not be defined as a signal. The GT is notillustrated in FIG. 8.

RACH preamble repetition: When a RACH preamble for Rx beam scanning ofthe gNB is configured, i.e., when the gNB configures a RACH preambleformat so that the gNB may perform Rx beam scanning, if the same signal(i.e., same sequence) is repeated within the RACH preamble, the CP isnot needed between the repeated signals because the repeated signalsserve as the CP. However, when preambles are repeated within the RACHpreamble using different signals, the CP is needed between thepreambles. The GT is not needed between RACH preambles. Hereinafter, thepresent invention is described under the assumption that the same signalis repeated. For example, if the RACH preamble is configured in the formof ‘CP+preamble+preamble’, the present invention is described under theassumption that the preambles within the RACH preamble are configured bythe same sequence.

FIG. 8 illustrates RACH resources for a plurality of SS blocks and RACHpreambles in each RACH resource in terms of the gNB. The gNB attempts toreceive a RACH preamble in each RACH resource in a time region in whichthe RACH resources are configured. The UE transmits a RACH preamblethereof through RACH resource(s) linked to specific SS block(s) (e.g.,SS block(s) having better Rx quality) rather than transmitting the RACHpreamble in each of RACH resources for all SS blocks of the cell. Asmentioned above, different RACH resource elements or different RACHresources may be used to transmit RACH preambles by different UEs.

FIG. 9 illustrates a RACH resource set. FIG. 9(a) illustrates the casein which two RACH resource elements per RACH resource are configured ina cell of the gNB in which BC holds. FIG. 9(b) illustrates the case inwhich one RACH resource element per RACH resource is configured in thecell of the gNB in which BC holds. Referring to FIG. 9(a), two RACHpreambles may be transmitted in a RACH resource linked to an SS block.Referring to FIG. 9(b), one RACH preamble may be transmitted in a RACHresource linked to an SS block.

A RACH resource set may be configured as illustrated in FIG. 9 so as tomaximize the efficiency of a RACH resource using the RACH signalconfiguration characteristic described in FIG. 8. As illustrated in FIG.9, in order to raise use/allocation efficiency of the RACH resource,RACH resources or RACH resource elements may be configured to becompletely concatenated without allocating a blank duration between RACHresources in the RACH resource set.

However, if RACH resources are configured as illustrated in FIG. 9, thefollowing problems may arise. 1) When BC holds and the gNB receives aRACH resource corresponding to SS block #N by forming a beam in thedirection of SS block #N, since an Rx beam is changed at a middle ofOFDM symbols (OSs) defined for a data or control channel, the gNB onlypartially uses resources other than a frequency resource allocated asthe RACH resource. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 9(a), if the gNBforms an Rx beam to receive SS block #1, OS #4 cannot be used for thedata channel or the control channel. 2) When BC does not hold and thegNB performs Rx beam scanning within a RACH resource element, the gNBmay perform RACH preamble detection while receiving a data/controlsignal by forming an Rx beam on each of OSs at a boundary of OS #1/OS#2/OS #3 with respect to a RACH resource corresponding to SS block #1.However, when the gNB performs beam scanning for a RACH resourcecorresponding to SS block #2, a beam direction for receiving thedata/control signal and a beam direction for receiving a RACH preambleare not matched in a duration corresponding to OS #4 so that a problemoccurs in detecting the RACH preamble.

In summary, if the gNB performs beam scanning while changing thedirection of an Rx beam for RACH signal reception and a timing at whichthe Rx beam is changed mismatches an OFDM symbol boundary defined forthe data or control channel, there is a problem of lowering resourceuse/allocation efficiency of the data or control channel serviced in afrequency region other than a frequency resource allocated as the RACHresource. To solve this problem, the present invention proposesallocating a RACH resource as a structure aligned with an OFDM symbolboundary, in order for the gNB to perform RACH preamble detection whilechanging a beam direction in a multi-beam scenario and simultaneouslyfor the gNB to use all radio resources other than the RACH resource forthe data and control channels. When BC holds, by way of example, a RACHresource or a RACH preamble transmitted through the RACH resource may bealigned with an OFDM symbol boundary using two methods as illustrated inFIG. 10.

FIG. 10 illustrates boundary alignment of a RACH resource according tothe present invention. An example illustrated in FIG. 10 corresponds tothe case in which BS holds and two RACH resource elements can betransmitted on one RACH resource. When BC does not hold, one RACHpreamble may be configured by one CP and a plurality of consecutivepreambles as illustrated in FIG. 7(a) or FIG. 8(a). Even in this case,the present invention is applicable. Only one RACH resource element maybe transmitted on one RACH resource and the present invention isapplicable thereto.

1) One (hereinafter, Method 1) of methods for aligning an OFDM symbolboundary and a RACH resource boundary determines a CP length and apreamble length of a RACH preamble by taking into consideration RACHpreamble detection capability by the gNB, coverage of the gNB, and asubcarrier spacing of the RACH preamble and then configure an RACHresource element using the CP length and the preamble length, asillustrated in FIG. 10(a). The gNB may configure the RACH resource bydetermining the number of RACH resource elements per RACH resource inconsideration of the capacity of the RACH resource. The gNB configuresRACH resource(s) such that a boundary of each of RACH resources whichare to be consecutively used is aligned with a boundary of OFDMsymbol(s) which are to be used for the data and control channels. Inthis case, a blank duration may occur between RACH resources. The blankduration may be configured as a duration during which no signals aretransmitted. Alternatively, a signal may be additionally transmitted asa post-fix only to the last RACH resource element in the RACH resource.That is, the UE that transmits a RACH preamble using the last RACHresource element in the time domain among RACH resource elements in aRACH resource may add a post-fix signal to the RACH preamble thereof andthen transmit the RACH preamble. The UE that transmits a RACH preambleusing a RACH resource element other than the last RACH resource elementmay transmit the RACH preamble without adding the post-fix signal.

2) Another method (hereinafter, Method 2) among the methods of aligningthe OFDM symbol boundary and the RACH resource boundary configures a CPlength and a preamble length in order to align the RACH resourceboundary with the OFDM symbol boundary as illustrated in FIG. 10(b).However, since the number of RACH resource elements in each RACHresource may vary, if the length of the RACH preamble is changed tomatch the OFDM symbol boundary, there is a danger of changingcharacteristics of a preamble sequence in the RACH preamble. That is,the length of a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence used to generate a preamble isdetermined as 839 or 130 according to a preamble format as illustratedin Table 4. If the length of the preamble is changed in order to alignthe length of the RACH preamble with the OFDM symbol boundary, thecharacteristics of the ZC sequence which is the preamble sequence mayvary. Therefore, if a RACH preamble format is determined and RACHresource elements per RACH resource are determined, the length of theRACH preamble may be fixed but a CP length may become greater than alength determined in configuring the RACH preamble format so that theRACH resource is aligned with the OFDM symbol boundary. That is, thismethod serves to align a RACH resource boundary, i.e., a RACH preambleboundary transmitted through the RACH resource with an OFDM symbol usedto transmit the data/control channel (i.e., normal OFDM symbol) byfixing the length of each preamble in the RACH preamble and increasingthe CP length to match the OFDM symbol boundary so as to maintaincharacteristics of the preamble sequence. In this case, only CP lengthsof some RACH resource elements may be configured to be increased (i.e.,only CP lengths of some RACH preambles are configured to be increased)or CP lengths of all RACH resource elements may be configured to beproperly increased (i.e., a CP length of each RACH preamble isconfigured to be properly increased). For example, if the gNB configuresthe RACH resource in the time domain configured by OFDM symbols, the gNBconfigures a preamble format indicating a CP length and a sequence partlength such that the sequence part length is a multiple of a positiveinteger of a preamble length obtained from a specific length (e.g., thelength of a ZC sequence for a RACH) according to the number of preamblesto be included in a corresponding RACH preamble and the CP length isequal to a value obtained by subtracting the sequence part length from atotal length of the normal OFDM symbols. If the lengths of OFDM symbolsare all the same, the RACH preamble format according to the presentinvention will be defined such that the sum of a multiple of a positiveinteger of a predefined preamble length (e.g., a preamble lengthobtained from a predefined length of a ZC sequence) and a CP length is amultiple of an OFDM symbol length. When the UE detects an SS block of acell and generates a RACH preamble to be transmitted on a RACH resourceconnected to the SS block, the UE generates the RACH preamble bygenerating each preamble to be included in the RACH preamble using asequence of a specific length (e.g., ZC sequence) according to apreamble format configured by the gNB and adding a CP to a front part ofthe preamble or repetition(s) of the preamble.

Method 1 and Method 2 may be equally applied even when the gNB performsRx beam scanning because BC does not hold. When BC holds for Method 1and Method 2, there is a high possibility that a RACH preamble isconfigured in a format including one preamble. Meanwhile, except thatthere is a high possibility that the RACH preamble is configured toinclude preamble repetition when BC does not hold, Method 1 and Method 2described with reference to FIG. 10 may be equally applied to the casein which the gNB desires to perform Rx beam scanning because BS does nothold. For example, when BC does not hold so that the gNB desires toperform Rx beam scanning, the gNB configures and signals a preambleformat (e.g., refer to FIG. 7(a) or FIG. 8(a)) in the form of includingpreamble repetition. Herein, the RACH resource may be configured in theform of Method 1 so as to monitor RACH preamble(s) by considering aduration from the end of one RACH resource to a part immediately beforethe start of the next RACH resource as a blank duration or a post-fixduration. Alternatively, the RACH resource may be configured in the formof Method 2 so as to monitor RACH preamble(s) in each RACH resourceconfigured by the gNB under the assumption that the RACH preambleboundary is equal to the OFDM symbol boundary.

The RACH resource allocation method proposed in the present inventionserves to efficiently use a frequency resource, other than a frequencyresource occupied by the RACH resource, in one slot or multiple slotsused for the RACH resource, as a data resource or a control channelresource. Therefore, for efficient use of the data/control channelresource considering the RACH resource, the gNB needs to schedule thedata or control channel using information as to which unit is used toform a beam with respect to a slot to which the RACH resource isallocated. The UE may receive information as to which OFDM symbol unitis used when the gNB performs scheduling and transmit the data orcontrol channel based on the information. To this end, two methods maybe considered so that the gNB may schedule the data or control channelin a time region to which the RACH resource is allocated.

Mini Slot Allocation

When a channel is scheduled in a time region to which the RACH resourceis allocated, since the scheduled channel should be included in one beamregion, a time length of a resource to which the channel is allocatedshould be shorter than a time length of the RACH resource and aplurality of slots of a short length may be included for one RACHresource.

If the gNB operates by configuring a beam direction for each RACHresource and time units in which the gNB allocates a resource to the UEare not matched in a time region to which the RACH resource is allocatedand in a time region to which the RACH resource is not allocated, thegNB should define a slot for scheduling in a time region occupied by theRACH resource and inform the UE of information related to the slot.Hereinafter, the slot used for scheduling in the time region occupied bythe RACH resource will be referred to as a mini slot. In this structure,there are some considerations in order to transmit the data or controlchannel through the mini slot. For example, the following considerationsare given.

1) The case in which one mini slot is defined for a slot to which theRACH resource is allocated:

FIG. 11 illustrates a method of configuring a mini slot within a RACHslot SLOT_(RACH) when BC holds.

The UE is aware of all information about RACH resources that the gNBuses through system information. Therefore, a set of minimum OFDMsymbols including a whole RACH resource allocated per SS block may bedefined as one mini slot. When the gNB performs scheduling at a time towhich the RACH resource is allocated, the UE interprets the mini slot asa TTI and transmits the data or control channel in the TTI. If multiplemini slots are included in one normal slot, the UE needs to determinethrough which mini slot the UE is to transmit the data/control channel.A method for the UE to determine a mini slot to be used to transmit thedata/control channel may broadly include the following two schemes.

A. If the gNB schedules transmission of a UL data/control channel, thegNB may designate, for the UE, which mini slot within a slot the UEshould use for transmission, through DCI.

B. The UE continuously performs beam tracking in a multi-beam scenario.If the UE previously receives, from the gNB, information about an SSblock to which a serving beam from which the UE currently receives aservice is connected, the UE interprets the same time region as a timeregion to which the RACH resource connected to the SS block associatedwith the serving beam is allocated as a time region in which the UEshould perform transmission. If the RACH resource connected to the SSblock associated with the serving beam of the UE is not present in aslot scheduled for the UE, the UE may determine that beam mismatch hasoccurred.

2) The case in which multiple mini slots are defined in a slot to whichthe RACH resource is allocated:

FIG. 12 illustrates another method of configuring a mini slot within aRACH slot SLOT_(RACH) when BC holds.

When multiple mini slots are defined in a slot to which a RACH resourceis allocated, this is basically similar to the case in which multiplemini slots are defined in a slot to which a RACH resource is allocatedexcept that multiple mini slots are present in a slot to which one RACHresource is allocated. The same operation as the method proposed in FIG.11 is performed. However, as illustrated in FIG. 12, a set of minimumOFDM symbols including a whole RACH resource is divided into a fewsubsets and each subset is defined as a mini slot. In this case, the gNBshould first inform the UE of how the set of minimum OFDM symbolsincluding a RACH resource should be divided to use the mini slots. Forexample, the gNB may indicate, in a bitmap form, how the minimum OFDMsymbols including the RACH resource are divided to the UE.Alternatively, when the minimum OFDM symbols including the RACH resourcecan be divided into a plurality of equal subsets, the gNB may inform theUE of the number of allocated mini slots. In addition, the gNB shouldindicate, to the scheduled UE, through which mini slot among themultiple mini slots the UE should transmit the data/control channel. ThegNB may directly indicate a mini slot through which the data/controlchannel should be transmitted through the DCI. Alternatively, when theUE is scheduled in a time region to which the RACH resource isallocated, the gNB may inform the UE of a mini slot to be used, inadvance (e.g., during connection setup). Alternatively, it is possibleto determine a mini slot to be used by a predetermined rule usinginformation, such as a UE ID, which is shared between the UE and thegNB.

3) The Case in which BC does not Hold and, Thus, Beam Scanning isPerformed During Preamble Repetition:

FIG. 13 illustrates a method of configuring a mini slot within a RACHslot SLOT_(RACH) when BC does not hold.

When BC does not hold, the gNB performs beam scanning while sweepingbeam directions of a receiver in a slot to which one RACH resource isallocated, as described above. Therefore, this case may operatesimilarly to a scheme in which BC holds and multiple mini slots arepresent in a slot to which the RACH resource is allocated. To this end,similarly to the method described in FIG. 12, the gNB transmits, to theUE, information as to how beam scanning will be performed with respectto a set of minimum OFDM symbols including the RACH resource andinformation as to which SS block each beam is connected. Thisinformation may be used as information about which mini slot can bescheduled for the UE. In this case, similarly to the method described inFIG. 12, the UE may receive, through the DCI, the information aboutwhich mini slot among the multiple mini slots which can be scheduled forthe UE is scheduled to transmit the data/control channel. Alternatively,the information may be prescheduled through an RRC signal or may bedefined by a predefined rule using information shared between the gNBand the UE.

4) The Case of Grant-Free Scheduling:

A. When a time resource of a data/control channel transmitted by the UEon a grant-free resource overlaps a RACH resource, the data/controlchannel may be transmitted in a mini slot defined in a time region ofthe RACH resource. However, when grant-free scheduling is used and asignal format of the data/control channel that the UE is to transmitthrough the grant-free scheduling, i.e., through a grant-free resource,is a normal slot or a slot which is shorter than the normal slot but islonger than the mini slot defined in a RACH resource region and when thelength of the mini slot is too short, so that a code rate oftransmission of the data/control channel through the mini slot is toohigh relative to a designate code rate, the UE may i) drop transmission,ii) change a transport block size, or iii) transmit the data/controlchannel using multiple mini slots when the multiple mini slots areavailable. On the other hand, when the code rate of transmission of thedata/control channel is lower than the designated code rate even if thedata/control channel is transmitted with the length of the mini slot,the UE may transmit the data/control channel with a designated transportblock size.

>B. When grant-free scheduling is used and the signal format of thedata/control channel that the UE is to transmit through the grant-freescheduling, i.e., through the grant-free resource, is shorter than themini slot, the data/control channel may be normally transmitted at amini slot location determined in the above-mentioned scheme. That is, ifthe data/control channel through grant-free scheduling requires aresource of a shorter length than the mini slot in the time domain, theUE transmits the data/control channel through a mini slot correspondingto the same gNB Rx beam as the data/control channel among mini slotsconfigured to match the length of the RACH resource (i.e., RACHpreamble). In this case, the transport block size may increase accordingto a predetermined rule in proportion to a mini slot length comparedwith a preconfigured signal format. For example, if the signal format inwhich the data/control channel is transmitted through grant-freescheduling is defined as using two OFDM symbols and the mini slot lengthin a RACH slot corresponds to three OFDM symbols, the transport blocksize capable of carrying the data/control channel of grant-freescheduling may increase by 1.5 times.

5) Allocation of Mini Slot to Guard Time or Blank Duration:

FIG. 14 illustrates a method of configuring a mini slot using a guardtime.

The gNB may freely configure an Rx beam with respect to a part of aduration configured as the guard time, or a blank duration in a slotremaining after configuring a RACH resource in one slot even though theblank duration is not for usage of the guard time. Accordingly, the gNBmay inform the UE of information about a mini slot capable of being usedindependently of a beam for RACH resource reception together withinformation related to the RACH resource and the UE may expect thatdynamic scheduling will be performed with respect to the mini slotconfigured in the guard time. The location(s) of allocated mini slot(s)may be determined by the above-described methods (e.g., methods ofindicating the length and locations of mini slots configured in a RACHslot and a beam direction).

6) Allocation of Short PUCCH Resource:

In a TDD system, a control channel may be transmitted during a partialduration of one slot by configuring the control channel with a shortlength. In an NR system, schemes in which a DL control channel istransmitted in a front part of one slot and a UL control channel istransmitted in the last part of one slot are under discussion.Particularly, the UL control channel transmitted in this way is referredto as a short PUCHH. Since the short PUCCH is configured to betransmitted on the last one or two symbols, the short PUCCH may betransmitted in the above-described mini slot. However, as mentionedpreviously, since a beam direction may vary within one slot, the shortPUCCH cannot always be located at the last part of the slot.Accordingly, when the short PUCCH is scheduled in a slot region to whicha RACH resource is allocated, the UE transmits the short PUCCH in a minislot in which a beam in the same direction as a beam from which the UEreceives a service (i.e., a gNB Rx beam, or a UE Tx beam correspondingto the gNB Rx beam) or a beam in which the gNB previously forms a linkfor the short PUCCH (i.e., a gNB Rx beam, or a UE Tx beam correspondingto the gNB Rx beam) is present. In this case, the PUCCH may betransmitted at the last symbol location in the mini slot, a symbollocation designated by the gNB through signaling, or a symbol locationdetermined by a rule. However, the UE may drop transmission of the shortPUCCH when the beam in the same direction as a beam from which the UEreceives a service or the beam in which the gNB previously forms a linkfor the short PUCCH is not present.

Mini Slot Concatenation

In the procedure of forming the Rx beam for the RACH resource set, if Rxbeam directions of respective RACH resources are not greatly different,the data or control channel may be transmitted through a long slot forperforming transmission throughout a duration of the RACH resource set.This may be referred to as mini slot concatenation in which theabove-described mini slots are used through concatenation as describedabove.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of transmitting data by performing minislot concatenation with the same length as a normal slot when BC holds.Particularly, FIG. 15 illustrates transmission of concatenated minislots and insertion of a reference signal during a RACH resourceduration when BC holds. For example, one data packet may be transmittedthroughout a long slot obtained by concatenating mini slots so that thelong slot may have the same length as a normal slot. In this case, onedata packet is dividedly transmitted in mini slots within the long slot.

Thus, in the case of data transmission using the concatenated minislots, since the gNB forms an Rx beam of each RACH resource usinginformation about an SS block transmission direction, the UE desirablytransmits a signal in a direction capable of receiving each SS blockwith the best quality. Therefore, the gNB informs the UE of informationrelated to Rx beam formation (e.g., information associated with the SSblock) with respect to each OFDM symbol (when BC does not hold) or withrespect to each RACH resource (when BC holds) in a RACH resource timeregion. In this case, smooth reception of the data channel may not beperformed because the Rx beam of the gNB is changed during signaltransmission while the UE performs signal transmission throughconcatenated mini slots and transmits a reference signal in a formatdefined for a normal slot. Therefore, it is necessary to insert thereference signal in a unit in which the Rx beam direction of the gNBvaries in consideration of variation in the Rx beam direction of thegNB. To this end, a reference signal structure for the concatenated minislots allocated in a RACH resource duration may be desirably defined.The UE to which the data or control channel of a concatenated mini slotformat is allocated in the RACH resource duration should transmit thereference signal of the concatenated mini slot format.

During transmission of a PUSCH or a PUCCH, if one stable gNB Rx beam fora UE Tx beam direction of the PUSCH or the PUCCH is not present or aplurality of beams has similar quality, the PUSCH or a long PUCCH may bestably received by transmitting the PUSCH or the PUCCH throughconcatenated mini slots so as to use a beam diversity characteristic. Inthis case, the gNB may efficiently use a time resource to which a RACHresource is allocated by transmitting the PUSCH or the PUCCH in a RACHresource region.

Additionally, the gNB performs beam tracking for a Tx beam or an Rx beamso that a beam having the best quality is maintained as a serving beamin order to stably maintain a service in a multi-beam environment.Accordingly, the gNB may measure quality of the gNB Rx beam or the UE Txbeam and perform beam tracking by causing the UE to perform repetitivetransmission of the PUSCH, the long PUCCH, or a short PUCCH in each RACHresource region or transmit an RS defined for beam tracking through aplurality of mini slots, using a characteristic in which the gNB changesthe Rx beam in a slot duration to which the RACH resource is allocated.That is, for efficient use of a resource for beam tracking, the gNB maycause the UE to transmit a physical channel suitable for acharacteristic for a time region to which the RACH resource is allocatedand the gNB may use the physical channel as a resource for beamtracking. In other words, for efficient use of the resource for beamtracking, the gNB may indicate, to the UE, that the UE should transmitthe physical channel through a UE Tx beam suitable for each of minislot(s) configured in the time region to which the RACH resource isallocated and the gNB may use the physical channel in each mini slot forbeam tracking. In order for the UE to efficiently transmit a signal forbeam tracking, the gNB informs the UE of information about change in abeam direction as described above and the UE inserts a reference signalinto each Rx beam of the gNB according to this information and apredefined rule and transmits the reference signal. The gNB may use thereference signal as a signal for channel estimation for an Rx beamduration or a signal for signal quality measurement for beam tracking.

Upon transmitting the PUSCH or the long PUCCH which is received in thegNB through beam diversity, since the gNB attempts to receive a signalin each Rx beam duration, antenna gain may have a differentcharacteristic. Therefore, the UE may differently configure transmissionpower of the PUSCH/PUCCH with respect to each Rx beam direction (e.g.,each RACH resource region). To this end, the gNB may inform the UE thatreference channel/signal information and a power control parameter, forpathloss calculation used for open loop power control, should beseparately configured with respect to each RACH resource region. The UEconfigures and transmits different transmission powers in a RACHresource time region using this information.

Unlike this, during transmission of a signal for beam tracking (or beammanagement) in a plurality of RACH resource regions, the respective RACHresource regions should maintain the same transmission power in orderfor a gNB to measure quality of a signal received by the gNB. In thiscase, only one reference channel/signal is needed for control of onepower. If the gNB informs the UE of information about the referencechannel/signal or the information is predefined by a rule, the UE maydetermine the magnitude of transmission power using the referencechannel/signal and transmit the PUSCH/PUCCH by equally applying thetransmission power to all regions.

The gNB may inform the UE of whether UL data or the control channeltransmitted in a RACH resource transmission time region, i.e., a timeregion to which the RACH resource is configured in a corresponding cell,is used for beam diversity or for beam tracking with respect to each ULchannel and cause the UE to perform a power control operation accordingto the above usage.

<PRACH Configuration>

PRACH configuration includes time/frequency information of a RACHresource and may be included in the remaining minimum system information(RMSI). The RMSI may be interpreted as a system information block 1(SIB1) and represents system information that the UE should acquireafter receiving a master system information block (MIB) through aphysical broadcast channel (PBCH). Upon receiving the PRACHconfiguration information, the UE is able to transmit PRACH message 1(Msg1) on a designated time and frequency resource using one preamble ina preamble set included in the PRACH configuration. A preamble format inthe PRACH configuration information may also provide CP length, numberof repetitions, subcarrier spacing, sequence length, etc. Hereinafter,details on the PRACH configuration will be described.

1. Time and Frequency Locations of RACH Resources

For signaling RACH resource time domain information, the RACH resourcetime domain information may include information about reserved RACHresources and RACH slot information about an accurate RACH resourcelocation in a slot. Here, the RACH slot information may vary accordingto a PRACH preamble subcarrier spacing. That is, a UE may determine slotindices in a radio frame on the basis of RACH preamble subcarrierspacing configuration information. For example, a radio frame includes10 slots in the case of a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and includes 40slots in the case of a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz.

Although RACH slot configuration information configured per window of 10ms or more may be represented through a bitmap or a compressed bitmap,80 slots are included per radio frame in the case of a subcarrierspacing of 120 kHz and thus bitmap signaling of a RACH slot causessignificant signaling overhead. In addition, a RACH slot needs to bedifferently configured according to periodicity and a RACH slotfrequency within a predetermined duration. Accordingly, it is necessaryto provide different pieces of RACH slot configuration informationaccording to RACH preamble subcarrier spacing in order to reducesignaling overhead. That is, M states need to be specified persubcarrier spacing for a RACH preamble, and each state has a RACH slotfrequency and/or periodicity within a different predetermined duration.For example, one state may be reserved for a RACH slot having aperiodicity of 10 ms in the latter half of a radio frame.

When correct information about RACH slots is provided, RACH resources ineach RACH slot may be acquired on the basis of a combination of a RACHpreamble format and a subcarrier spacing of PRACH Msg. 1. In addition,to indicate a correct RACH resource location in a slot, a networksignals a start symbol index of a RACH resource, as illustrated in FIG.16. Although a start symbol index of a RACH resource in a RACH slot maybe signaled per RACH slot, it is more desirable to apply the startsymbol index to all RACH slots in order to reduce signaling overhead.

An SS block is composed of 4 symbols of a PSS, an SSS and a PBCH (2symbols), and one slot is composed of 14 symbols and disposed in oneslot. Synchronization procedures included in 3GPP TS 38.213 draft definesymbols at which an SS block composed of PSS/SSS/PBSS can be positionedwithin a slot according to subcarrier spacing as shown in

TABLE 8 4 Synchronization procedures 4.1 Cell search Cell search is theprocedure by which a UE acquires time and frequency synchronization witha cell and detects the physical layer Cell ID of that cell. A UEreceives the following synchronization signals (SS) in order to performcell search: the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondarysynchronization signal (SSS) as defined in [4, TS 38.211]. A UE shallassume that reception occasions of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH),PSS, and SSS are in consecutive OFDM symbols, as defined in [4, TS38.211], and form a SS/PBCH block. For a half frame with SS/PBCH blocks,the number and first OFDM symbol indexes for candidate SS/PBCH blocksare as follows. 15 kHz subcarrier spacing: the first OFDM symbols of thecandidate SS/PBCH blocks have indexes of {2, 8} + 14 * n. For carrierfrequencies less than or equal to 3 GHz, n = 0, 1. For carrierfrequencies greater than 3 GHz and less than or equal to 6 GHz, n = 0,1, 2, 3. 30 kHz subcarrier spacing: the first OFDM symbols of thecandidate SS/PBCH blocks have indexes {4, 8, 16, 20} + 28 * n. Forcarrier frequencies less than or equal to 3 GHz, n = 0. For carrierfrequencies greater than 3 GHz and less than or equal to 6 GHz, n =0, 1. 30 kHz subcarrier spacing: the first OFDM symbols of the candidateSS/PBCH blocks have indexes {2, 8} + 14 * n. For carrier frequenciesless than or equal to 3 GHz, n = 0, 1. For carrier frequencies greaterthan 3 GHz and less than or equal to 6 GHz, n = 0, 1, 2, 3. 120 kHzsubcarrier spacing: the first OFDM symbols of the candidate SS/PBCHblocks have indexes{4, 8, 16, 20} + 28 * n. For carrier frequenciesgreater than 6 GHz, n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16,17, 18. 240 kHz subcarrier spacing: the first OFDM symbols of thecandidate SS/PBCH blocks have indexes {8, 12, 16, 20, 32, 36, 40, 44} +56 * n. For carrier frequencies greater than 6 GHz, n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 5,6, 7, 8. The candidate SS/PBCH blocks in a half frame are indexed in anascending order in time from 0 to L − 1. For L = 4 or for L > 4, a UEshall respectively determine the 2 or 3 LSB bits of a SS/PBCH blockindex per [half frame] from one-to-one mapping with an index of the DMRSsequence transmitted in the PBCH. For L = 64, the UE shall determine the3 MSB bits of the SS/PBCH block index per [half frame] from higher layerparameter [SSB-index- explicit]. A UE can be configured by parameter[SSB-transmitted-SIB1], indexes of SS/PBCH blocks for which the UE shallnot receive other signals or channels in REs that overlap with REscorresponding to the SS/PBCH blocks. A UE can also be configured [perserving cell], by higher layer parameter [SSB-transmitted], indexes ofSS/PBCH blocks for which the UE shall not receive other signals orchannels in REs that overlap with REs corresponding to the SS/PBCHblocks. [A configuration by [SSB-transmitted] overrides a configurationby [SSB- transmitted-SIB 1]]. A UE can be configured per serving cell by[higher layer parameter] [SSB-timing] a periodicity of the half framesfor receptions of SS/PBCH blocks per serving cell. If the UE is notconfigured a periodicity of the half frames for reception of SS/PBCHblocks, the UE shall assume a periodicity of a half frame. A UE shallassume that the periodicity is the same for all SS/PBCH blocks in theserving cell. For initial cell selection, a UE may assume that halfframes with SS/PBCH blocks occur with a periodicity of 2 frames.

Slots in which SS blocks can be positioned and whether the SS blocks aretransmitted in the slots are signaled to UEs through network signaling.Accordingly, a slot which can be used to transmit an SS block but is notactually used for SS block transmission may be used for a RACHtransmission slot.

Since the network provides RACH slot information and information aboutactually transmitted SS blocks, a UE needs to determine whether some orall of slots configured as RACH slots are occupied by SS blocks on thebasis of such information. If a RACH slot is completely occupied by SSblocks, this RACH slot cannot be used for RACH preamble transmission.Here, complete occupation by SS blocks means that the length ofconsecutive symbols which are not occupied by SS blocks in the slot isshorter than the length of the RACH preamble format.

If a RACH slot is partially occupied by SS blocks, the RACH slot may beused for RACH preamble transmission. Here, partial occupation of theRACH slot means that the length of consecutive unoccupied symbols withinthe slot is equal to or longer than the length of OFDM symbols occupiedby a RACH preamble format indicated by the network. Here, the UEcalculates symbols which are not used for SS block transmission on thebasis of information on actually transmitted SS blocks and determinesthe number of RACH resources which can be used for PRACH transmissionamong symbols other than symbols occupied by SS blocks in the slot onthe basis of the RACH preamble format. Here, symbols which can be usedfor PRACH transmission are determined according to the RACH preambleformat and a RACH resource start position in the slot is determined bythe RACH preamble format and RACH slot type, as shown in FIG. 16.

Frequency locations of RACH resources are signaled with respect to anuplink initial bandwidth part (BWP) in a BWP and resource allocation forRACH transmission.

When the above description is summarized, time/frequency informationabout RACH resources may include the following.

-   -   RACH slot position information patterns having different RACH        slot frequencies and/or periodicities for subcarrier spacings        for RACH preamble (Msg. 1) may be defined as M states, and a        specific state having the RACH preamble subcarrier spacing and        RACH slot frequency and/or periodicity used in the corresponding        system may be indicated as PRACH configuration information to        inform UEs of RACH slot position information.    -   A RACH resource start symbol index in a RACH slot is signaled.        Here, the start symbol index may be an OFDM symbol number such        as {0, 1, 2}. Further, the RACH slot type is applied to all RACH        slots.    -   A RACH resource frequency location may be determined by an        uplink initial BWP in a BWP and resource allocation for RACH        transmission.

2. RACH Resource Configuration in Time Domain

RACH resource configuration in the time domain will be described withreference to FIGS. 17 and 18. Here, RACH resources refer totime/frequency resources in which PRACH Msg. 1 can be transmitted. RACHpreamble index configuration in RACH resources is described. RACHresources are associated with SS blocks in order to identify a preferreddownlink transmission beam direction. That is, each RACH resource in thetime domain is associated with an SS block index.

In addition, a RACH resource set in the time domain may be defined withrespect to default periodicity of SS blocks in a cell. A plurality ofRACH resources associated with one SS block may be within the RACHresource set in the time domain. Referring to FIG. 17, an SS blockperiod and a RACH resource set period may be set, as illustrated in FIG.17. The RACH resource set period may be determined on the basis of theSS block period and a plurality of RACH resources may be configuredwithin the RACH resource set period.

In FIG. 17, each time instance to which a RACH resource is allocated iscalled a RACH occasion. That is, when only the time domain and frequencydomain are considered without the sequence domain, one RACH resource canbe called one RACH occasion. If the RACH resource set period isdetermined on the basis of the SS block period, a correct timinginstance may be indicated as an offset from a transmission timing of anSS block associated with the corresponding RACH resource. Correctpositions of RACH occasions in the RACH resource set are also providedto UEs.

FIG. 18 illustrates a method of indicating association between an SSblock and a RACH resource. Each RACH resource set is configured using anSS block period. A correct RACH resource start position in the timedomain may depend on a RACH resource set corresponding to an SS block,and thus a timing offset from each SS block to a RACH resource setcorresponding thereto may be signaled.

A RACH resource duration is determined by a PRACH preamble format. Thelength of a RACH preamble including a guard time (e.g., preamble format)is set according to cell coverage. In addition, the number ofrepetitions of the preamble determines the RACH resource duration.Accordingly, RACH resource configuration includes the number ofrepetitions of a RACH sequence for preamble length indication inaddition to the RACH preamble format for a CP length.

As described above, the initial downlink beam acquisition procedure inan NR system using multiple beams is preferentially performed throughdetection of an SS block having highest reception quality. Accordingly,information about a downlink beam that a UE prefers is signaled to abase station through an initial RACH procedure. Therefore, informationabout a beam index corresponding to an SS block detected by the UE maybe indirectly signaled through the location of a resource for RACHpreamble transmission in the NR system. For example, a RACH resource islinked to each SS block, as described above with reference to FIG. 5,and the UE signals information about a beam index in the form of a RACHresource linked to each SS block to the base station. That is, the UEcan signal a preferred downlink beam, that is, an SS block, to the basestation by transmitting a PRACH using a RACH resource associated with anSS block detected thereby.

Since time/frequency resources of RACH resources are basically linked toSS blocks, it is desirable to allocate RACH resources on the basis of adefault SS block transmission period used in an initial access stage.However, when a small number of UEs is located in the cell of the basestation, RACH resources may be allocated intermittently compared to thedefault transmission period. Accordingly, the present invention proposesa method of defining a slot to which a RACH resource is allocated as aRACH slot and allocating a RACH slot period to a multiple of a defaultSS block transmission period. Although the above description is based ona multi-beam environment, it may be efficient to allocate RACH resourcesin the same manner in order to maintain the same structure in asingle-beam environment. Information about RACH time resources amongRACH resource allocation information transmitted from a network/gNB to aUE may include the following.

1) An associated SS block index

2) Location of a RACH slot from an SS block

3) A RACH slot period represented as a multiple or a function of an SSblock period

4) An offset value for signaling a correct location without ambiguitywhen a RACH slot period with respect to an SS block period is greaterthan 1. Here, the offset value is set on the basis of subframe number 0.

When time/frequency resources to which RACH resources are allocated areassociated with SS blocks as described above, the number of RACHresources through which a UE can transmit a RACH may be the same as thenumber of SS blocks. Although a RACH resource generally includes all oftime, frequency and code domain resources capable of carrying a RACHpreamble, the RACH resource is used as time/frequency resource blockscapable of carrying the RACH preamble in the present invention forconvenience of description. However, a RACH resource mentioned alongwith a preamble sequence may also be used as a resource including asequence domain, that is, a code domain. For example, when RACHresources are represented as sharing the same time/frequency resource,the RACH resources are one RACH resource from the viewpoint oftime/frequency resources but they may correspond to a plurality of RACHresources when the sequence domain is considered.

However, in an environment in which a small number of UEs exist in abase station, it may be inefficient for different RACH resources to beallocated to SS blocks. Accordingly, if the base station can receiveRACH preambles using the same reception beam or simultaneously receiveRACH preambles through a plurality of beams, the same time/frequencyresource may be allocated to RACH resources linked to a plurality of SSblocks. That is, a plurality of SS blocks may be associated with asingle RACH time-frequency resource. In this case, the SS blocks withrespect to the RACH resource may be identified by preamble indices orpreamble index sets used in the RACH resource. That is, the number ofRACH resources may be allocated to be equal to or less than the numberof SS blocks.

The base station determines a time/frequency region to which a RACHresource will be allocated and signals information about the same to aUE through system information. In the case of LTE, one or two subframesconstitute a RACH slot according to preamble format and thus a UE can beaware of the location of a RACH resource in the time domain when thebase station designates a specific subframe location through PRACHconfiguration information. On the contrary, the NR system requiresinformation in a different form from the above-described informationaccording to configuration and environment of the base station.Particularly, the RACH preamble is configured in such a manner that adefault sequence having a short length is defined due to robustnessagainst a high Doppler frequency, Rx beam scanning and design conformingto TDD/FDD and the default sequence is repeated to secure beam scanningand coverage in the NR system, and thus RACH time resource locations maybe considerably variable according to the base station or environment.In addition, the NR system may be composed of a large number of smallcells having a very small size. In this case, the RACH preamble lengthmay become very short and a RACH slot in which a plurality of RACHpreambles can be transmitted may be configured in the time domain. Forexample, RACH time resource information may be provided to UEs asillustrated in FIG. 18.

FIG. 19 illustrates RACH time resource information. Information abouttime resources of RACH resources, that is, PRACH time resourceinformation may include the following information:

1) The relative position of a RACH resource/slot with respect to an SSblock position or a position of a RACH slot with respect to SS period;

2) The position of an OFDM symbol at which a RACH resource starts in aRACH slot;

3) A preamble format (i.e., CP length, sequence length) with respect toa RACH resource and the number of repetitions of a sequence; and/or

4) Information about the number of RACH resources defined as above whichwill be allocated on the time axis. Information corresponding to theposition of each RACH resource, for example, a relative position or anabsolute position of each RACH resource when multiple RACH resources areallocated and are not consecutive on the time axis.

Even when RACH resources connected to a plurality of SS blocks share thesame time/frequency resource, a UE needs to identify a RACH resourcelinked to an SS block with respect to the same time/frequency resourceand transmit a RACH preamble in order to transmit beam acquisitioninformation to the base station. To this end, preamble sequencesavailable in one RACH resource need to be allocated for SS blocks.Preamble sequences in the LTE and NR systems are composed ofcombinations of a root sequence which determines a default sequence,sequences of cyclic shift versions having zero-correlationcharacteristic in each root sequence and an orthogonal cover sequence.Here, a plurality of root sequences may be allocated to secure a largenumber of preamble sequences within a RACH resource in order to improveresource efficiency. In general, cross correlation between rootsequences is larger than cross correction between sequences havingdifferent cyclic shift versions or different orthogonal cover sequences.In addition, a signal received through a beam different from a beamsuitable for a UE is weak due to beam characteristics, and thus crosscorrelation between corresponding sequences does not significantlyaffect RACH reception performance in beam directions different from thebeam direction for the UE even if the cross correlation is large.Accordingly, when multiple RACH resources share the same time/frequencyresource, it is desirable that each RACH resource be composed ofpreamble sequences having as small cross correlation as possible. IfRACH preamble sequences are composed of a combination of a root sequenceand sequences of different cyclic shift versions or orthogonal coversequences in the root sequence, as in the above-described embodiment,preamble sequences having different cyclic shift versions in the sameroot sequence or preamble sequences having different orthogonal coversequences in the same root sequence may be preferentially allocated toRACH resources linked to one SS block and then different root sequenceindices may be allocated. For example, preamble sequences may beallocated to RACH time/frequency resources as illustrated in FIG. 19.

FIG. 20 illustrates a RACH preamble sequence allocation example.

Referring to FIG. 20, {15, 27, 127, 138} are allocated as root sequencesfor one time/frequency resource, and an orthogonal cover {0, 1} and acyclic shift version {0, 1, 2, 3} are allocated to each root sequence.Here, when two RACH resources are allocated to the time/frequencyresource, a ZC index composed of an OCC index and a cyclic shift versionis preferentially allocated to a RACH resource linked to an N-th SSblock and a RACH preamble sequence set composed of two root sequences{15, 27} is allocated. A RACH preamble sequence set is allocated to aRACH resource linked to an (N+1)-th SS block in the same order. Tosignal RACH resources to a UE, the base station signals information forconfiguring a RACH preamble sequence set per RACH resource anddetermines the order of RACH preamble sequences in a RACH preamblesequence set according to a predefined rule. Here, the predefined rulepreferentially increases the RACH preamble sequence index for {OCCindex, cyclic shift version} and then increases the next RACH preamblesequence index on the basis of the root sequence index. That is, theRACH preamble sequence index preferentially increases in ascending orderof cross correlation between sequences.

3. RACH Resource Configuration in Frequency Domain

PRACH configuration may provide information about the frequency regionof a RACH resource. When a UE attempts PRACH transmission in a situationin which the UE is not connected to a cell, the UE may not recognize thesystem bandwidth or resource block indexing.

In LTE, a synchronization signal is transmitted at the center of thesystem bandwidth and a PBCH provides the system bandwidth, and thus a UEcan easily acquire the correct position of a RACH resource. However,transmission of a synchronization signal at the center of the systembandwidth is not secured in the NR system. Accordingly, a UE may noteasily acquire resource block indexing for PRACH transmission in the NRsystem. Therefore, a method of providing a RACH resource position in thefrequency domain is required.

Since UEs in an idle mode acquire frequency synchronization on the basisof SS blocks, it is desirable to provide information about a frequencylocation of a RACH resource with respect to an SS block bandwidth. Thatis, a RACH resource in the frequency domain needs to be positionedwithin an SS block bandwidth in which a UE detects an SS block. A RACHpreamble transmission bandwidth has a fixed value in a defaultsubcarrier spacing of 15 kHz of a PSS/SSS/PBCH. For example, the RACHpreamble transmission bandwidth may be fixed to 1.08 MHz in the defaultsubcarrier spacing of 15 kHz. When the RACH preamble transmissionbandwidth is 1.08 MHz, the SS block transmission bandwidth on theassumption of the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing is quadruple of the RACHtransmission bandwidth. The network needs to provide a correct RACHresource position in the frequency domain in an SS block.

1 If the network configures a RACH resource outside an SS block in whicha PSS/SSS/PBCH is transmitted, information about the RACH resource needsto be signaled on the basis of the bandwidth of the SS block and thebandwidth of the RACH. Here, the system bandwidth is indexed in units ofan SS block bandwidth.

4. Number of Resources in Time Region

A short ZC sequence is used as an NR PRACH preamble. The short ZCsequence may cause lack of sequence in time resources defined as a CPand a RACH preamble. To solve this problem, a plurality of time andfrequency resources may be allocated to a RACH resource in a RACH slot,and a gNB needs to signal the quantity of time resources used in theRACH slot in addition to frequency resource information to UEs.

5. Sequence Information

In LTE, 64 sequences are allocated to a RACH resource and, when a rootcode (i.e., root sequence) is allocated, the cyclic shift version of theroot code is mapped to a preamble index first before other root codesare used due to the zero cross correlation characteristic.

The same characteristic may be reused for an NR-PRACH. Sequences havingthe zero cross correlation characteristic may be allocated first for anRCH preamble. Here, zero cross correlation is provided by a cyclic shiftversion and a defined orthogonal cover (if defined). When the root codeis allocated, the orthogonal cover is allocated according to apredefined rule or configuration and a cyclic shift version having theroot code and the orthogonal cover is mapped to the preamble index.

That is, a PRACH configuration signaled by a gNB to a UE may include thefollowing parameters;

-   -   RACH resource allocation in the time/frequency domain: a        preamble format (CP duration and the number of repetitions of a        ZC sequence)    -   Sequence information: a root code index, an orthogonal code        index (if defined) and a cyclic shift length

6. Linkage Between RACH Resource and SS Block Index

RACH resource information needs to include an SS block index associatedper RACH resource. To this end, an SS block index associated per RACHresource may be signaled. However, SS blocks are mapped to RACHresources using a predefined rule in order to reduce signaling overheadand the network needs to signal the rule. That is, SS blocks may besequentially mapped to RACH resources in the time domain. Exactly,actually transmitted SS blocks are mapped to RACH resources.

A method of signaling a Tx beam direction of a base station andconnection information about RACH resources in an initial access statewill be described in detail below. The Tx beam direction of the basestation refers to a beam direction of SS blocks as described above and,when a UE can observe/measure a specific RS other than SS blocks in theinitial access state, may additionally refer to the RS. For example, thespecific RS may be a CSI-RS.

In NR, a plurality of SS blocks may be formed and transmitted accordingto the number of beams of a base station. In addition, each SS block mayhave a unique index and a UE may detect a PSS/SSS and decode a PBCH toinfer the index of an SS block to which the PSS/SSS/PBCH belong. Systeminformation transmitted by the base station includes RACH configurationinformation. The RACH configuration information may include a list of aplurality of RACH resources, information for identifying the RACHresources and information about connection between each RACH resourceand an SS block.

As in the above description in which RACH resources are limited totime/frequency resources in which a UE can transmit PRACH preambles,RACH resources are also limited to time/frequency resources in thefollowing description. A method of indicating a RACH position on thefrequency axis as well as a RACH position on the time axis will also bedescribed below. In the above description, a single RACH resource islinked to one or more SS blocks and RACH resources consecutive on thetime axis are defined as a RACH resource set. A plurality of RACHresource sets consecutive on the frequency axis as well as the time axisis defined as a RACH resource block.

FIG. 21 illustrates a RACH resource block.

As illustrated in FIG. 21, the RACH resource block may be defined as atime/frequency chunk of RACH resources, and each RACH resource in theRACH resource block has a unique index determined by the time/frequencylocation.

A RACH resource index in the RACH resource block is mapped according toa specific rule. For example, the RACH resource index may be assigned infrequency-time order or time-frequency order. For example, referring toFIG. 21, RACH resources in the RACH resource block can be indexed asfollows in the case of frequency-time order.

-   -   RACH Resource #0 (Time, Frequency): (0, 0)    -   RACH Resource #1: (1, 0)    -   RACH resource #2: (2, 0)    -   . . . . . . . . .

Here, the unit of the time-axis length in the RACH resource block may bedetermined by the RACH preamble format and the unit of thefrequency-axis length may be determined by the RACH resource bandwidth(e.g., 1.08 MHz) or a resource block group (RBG) unit.

Meanwhile, when a UE requests system information transmission bytransmitting a specific RACH preamble, a plurality of RACH resourceblocks may be designated for the purpose of transmitting the number ofSS blocks or system information in a system/cell. Particularly, when thenumber of SS blocks is large, uplink/downlink data services may besignificantly restricted if RACH resources corresponding to each SSblock are consecutively configured, as mentioned above, and thus thenetwork may configure RACH resources consecutive on the time/frequencyaxis as a RACH resource block and discontinuously arrange configuredRACH resource blocks. Accordingly, a plurality of RACH resource blocksmay be configured and each RACH resource block may also have a uniqueindex.

In other words, a duration (referred to as a RACH configuration durationhereinafter) in which a RACH resource block is configured may bedesignated in a system/cell, and one or more RACH blocks may be presentin the RACH configuration duration. FIG. 22 illustrates a RACHconfiguration duration according to the present invention. Informationthat needs to be signaled by a network/gNB to UEs may include the lengthof a RACH configuration duration, the number of RACH resource blocks(i.e., RACH blocks) and the position of each RACH block. As illustratedin FIG. 22, UEs may be notified of an interval between RACH blocks inthe RACH configuration duration. For example, the network/gNB maysignal, as RACH block position information, a relative position such asthe number of slots or offset information in the unit of absolute timefrom RACH block #0 or directly signal a RACH block start slot index inthe RACH configuration period per RACH block.

Each RACH resource in a RACH resource block may have a uniqueconfiguration. In this case, RACH resources may have different RACHresource generation frequencies and periodicities, and each RACHresource may be connected to a specific SS block, CSI-RS or downlinkbeam direction. When there is such a connection relation, informationabout the connection relation is provided to UEs. FIG. 22 illustrates aconfiguration per RACH resource in a RACH resource block. Slot indiceswhich can be reserved for RACH resources in specific RACH resourceperiodicity may be defined in the standard document, and differentconfiguration numbers may be allocated according to RACH resourcegeneration frequency, as illustrated in FIG. 23. The network/gNB mayinform UEs of a generation frequency/periodicity of a specific RACHresource by signaling a specific configuration number through systeminformation.

The network may signal the number of RACH resource blocks (i.e., RACHblocks) and a start time (e.g., slot index) of each RACH resource blockto UEs. In addition, the network signals the number Nt of RACH resourceson the time axis and the number Nf o f RACH resources on the frequencyaxis when signaling information about each RACH resource block to UEs.Nt and Nf may be different for RACH resource blocks. The network/gNBmaps RACH resource indices according to time/frequency locations of RACHresources in a RACH resource block and informs UEs of information (e.g.,configuration number) indicating a periodicity/generation frequency ofeach RACH resource and information such as connected SS blocks or CSI-RSindex. Here, the network/gNB may signal the periodicity/generationfrequency of each RACH resource by indicating a specific configurationnumber set according to generation frequency of each RACH resource, asdescribed above.

In addition, a RACH preamble format may be configured per RACH resource.Although all RACH preamble formats may be configured as the same formatin the system, a subcarrier spacing and the number of repetition arefixed in a RACH resource block and different RACH preamble formats maybe configured for RACH resource blocks in reality. However, although thenumber of repetitions of a RACH preamble is fixed in the same RACHresource block, RACH resources included in the RACH resource block maybe configured to use different preamble sequences. For example,different root indices or cyclic shift (CS) versions may be configuredfor respective RACH resources in a RACH resource block.

With respect to signaling for RACH configuration, the network performs aprocess of identifying time/frequency resources for RACH preambletransmission, that is, RACH resources. To this end, a RACH resourceindex is determined by a RACH resource block index and a RACH resourceindex in a RACH resource block and RACH resource generationfrequency/periodicity per RACH resource index may correspond to each ofa plurality of RACH configuration numbers in the present invention. Inaddition, the network transmits RACH preamble information which can beused per RACH resource to UEs and transmits connected SS block index orCSI-RS index information. Accordingly, when a UE intends to perform RACHtransmission in a specific downlink beam direction, the UE can acquireinformation about RACH time/frequency resources and preamble resourcesto be used and perform RACH transmission using the resources.

8. Some Lists of PRACH Configuration Content

(1) RACH preamble format: 4 bits

-   -   Preamble format for a long sequence having a length of 839: 4        states    -   Preamble format for a short sequence of 127 or 139: 11 states

(2) Ncs≥4 bits

(3) Subcarrier spacing of PRACH Msg. 1: 2 bits

-   -   B6: 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 1.25 kHz, 5 kHz    -   A6: 60 kHz, 120 kHz, [1.25 kHz, 5 kHz]

(4) PRACH Msg. 3 for subcarrier spacing:

-   -   B6: 15 kHz, 30 kHz, [60 kHz]    -   A6: 60 kHz, 120 kHz, [240 kHz]

Signaling through UL BWP can be performed

-   -   (5) RACH slot configuration information    -   RACH slot indication: X bits (a table which has M states        according to RACH subcarrier spacing and thus can indicate M        states with respect to RACH time resources is required)    -   RACH slot type information: 2 bits

(6) UL BWP: Y bits

(7) The number of RAPIDs (Np)

(8) The number or RACH resources in a RACH resource group (Nr)

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a transmittingdevice 10 and a receiving device 20 for implementing the presentinvention.

The transmitting device 10 and the receiving device 20 respectivelyinclude Radio Frequency (RF) units 13 and 23 capable of transmitting andreceiving radio signals carrying information, data, signals, and/ormessages, memories 12 and 22 for storing information related tocommunication in a wireless communication system, and processors 11 and21 operationally connected to elements such as the RF units 13 and 23and the memories 12 and 22 to control the elements and configured tocontrol the memories 12 and 22 and/or the RF units 13 and 23 so that acorresponding device may perform at least one of the above-describedembodiments of the present invention.

The memories 12 and 22 may store programs for processing and controllingthe processors 11 and 21 and may temporarily store input/outputinformation. The memories 12 and 22 may be used as buffers.

The processors 11 and 21 generally control the overall operation ofvarious modules in the transmitting device and the receiving device.Especially, the processors 11 and 21 may perform various controlfunctions to implement the present invention. The processors 11 and 21may be referred to as controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, ormicrocomputers. The processors 11 and 21 may be implemented by hardware,firmware, software, or a combination thereof. In a hardwareconfiguration, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digitalsignal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs),programmable logic devices (PLDs), or field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs) may be included in the processors 11 and 21. Meanwhile, if thepresent invention is implemented using firmware or software, thefirmware or software may be configured to include modules, procedures,functions, etc. performing the functions or operations of the presentinvention. Firmware or software configured to perform the presentinvention may be included in the processors 11 and 21 or stored in thememories 12 and 22 so as to be driven by the processors 11 and 21.

The processor 11 of the transmitting device 10 performs predeterminedcoding and modulation for a signal and/or data scheduled to betransmitted to the outside by the processor 11 or a scheduler connectedwith the processor 11, and then transfers the coded and modulated datato the RF unit 13. For example, the processor 11 converts a data streamto be transmitted into K layers through demultiplexing, channel coding,scrambling, and modulation. The coded data stream is also referred to asa codeword and is equivalent to a transport block which is a data blockprovided by a MAC layer. One transport block (TB) is coded into onecodeword and each codeword is transmitted to the receiving device in theform of one or more layers. For frequency up-conversion, the RF unit 13may include an oscillator. The RF unit 13 may include NS (where NS is apositive integer) transmit antennas.

A signal processing process of the receiving device 20 is the reverse ofthe signal processing process of the transmitting device 10. Undercontrol of the processor 21, the RF unit 23 of the receiving device 20receives radio signals transmitted by the transmitting device 10. The RFunit 23 may include Nr (where Nr is a positive integer) receive antennasand frequency down-converts each signal received through receiveantennas into a baseband signal. The processor 21 decodes anddemodulates the radio signals received through the receive antennas andrestores data that the transmitting device 10 intended to transmit.

The RF units 13 and 23 include one or more antennas. An antenna performsa function for transmitting signals processed by the RF units 13 and 23to the exterior or receiving radio signals from the exterior to transferthe radio signals to the RF units 13 and 23. The antenna may also becalled an antenna port. Each antenna may correspond to one physicalantenna or may be configured by a combination of more than one physicalantenna element. The signal transmitted from each antenna cannot befurther deconstructed by the receiving device 20. An RS transmittedthrough a corresponding antenna defines an antenna from the view pointof the receiving device 20 and enables the receiving device 20 to derivechannel estimation for the antenna, irrespective of whether the channelrepresents a single radio channel from one physical antenna or acomposite channel from a plurality of physical antenna elementsincluding the antenna. That is, an antenna is defined such that achannel carrying a symbol of the antenna can be obtained from a channelcarrying another symbol of the same antenna. An RF unit supporting aMIMO function of transmitting and receiving data using a plurality ofantennas may be connected to two or more antennas. In the presentinvention, the RF unit is also referred to as a transceiver.

In the present invention, the RF units 13 and 23 may support Rx BF andTx BF. For example, in the present invention, the RF units 13 and 23 maybe configured to perform the function illustrated in FIG. 3.

In the embodiments of the present invention, a UE operates as thetransmitting device 10 in UL and as the receiving device 20 in DL. Inthe embodiments of the present invention, a gNB operates as thereceiving device 20 in UL and as the transmitting device 10 in DL.Hereinafter, a processor, a transceiver, and a memory included in the UEwill be referred to as a UE processor, a UE transceiver, and a UEmemory, respectively, and a processor, a transceiver, and a memoryincluded in the gNB will be referred to as a gNB processor, a gNBtransceiver, and a gNB memory, respectively.

The gNB processor of the present invention may transmit PRACHconfiguration information including information about a RACH slot whichmay be used by a UE for RACH transmission and information indicating asubcarrier spacing for a PRACH to the UE and detect a RACH preambletransmitted in the RACH slot. Here, the RACH preamble is generated bythe UE on the basis of the PRACH configuration information andsubcarrier spacing transmitted by the gNB, and thus the length of theRACH slot may vary according to the subcarrier spacing indicated by thegNB processor. Further, the PRACH configuration information may includeinformation such as a start symbol index, a RACH preamble format and aPRACH duration.

The UE processor of the present invention may receive PRACHconfiguration information including information about a RACH slotavailable for RACH transmission and information indicating a subcarrierspacing for a PRACH through a higher layer from the gNB and transmit theRACH preamble in the RACH slot on the basis of the PRACH configurationinformation and the subcarrier spacing transmitted by the gNB. Here, thelength of the RACH slot may vary according to the subcarrier spacingindicated by the gNB processor. That is, the length of one slotincreases as the subcarrier spacing decreases, and thus the length of aRACH slot included in a subframe also increases as the subcarrierspacing decreases. Accordingly, the number of slots included in a singleframe decreases as the subcarrier spacing decreases.

In addition, a symbol index to which a RACH preamble is actually mappedin the RACH slot may be determined by RACH preamble format informationand the sub carrier spacing. Here, information about the start symbolindex may be equally applied to all RACH slots. For example, a symbolhaving index #0 or #2 may be equally applied as a start index in allRACH slots. Furthermore, the UE processors may repeatedly map thegenerated RACH preamble sequence according to periodicity correspondingto the PRACH configuration information, and a short sequence having alength of 139 may be used as the RACH preamble sequence.

As described above, the detailed description of the preferredembodiments of the present invention has been given to enable thoseskilled in the art to implement and practice the invention. Although theinvention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments,those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications andvariations can be made in the present invention without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the invention described in the appended claims.Accordingly, the invention should not be limited to the specificembodiments described herein, but should be accorded the broadest scopeconsistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of transmitting a physical randomaccess channel (PRACH) signal by a user equipment (UE) in a wirelesscommunication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a basestation, configuration information for a PRACH resource in which totransmit the PRACH signal, wherein the configuration information relatesto (i) a PRACH slot in which to transmit the PRACH signal, the PRACHslot comprising a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and (ii) a starting OFDM symbol, among theplurality of OFDM symbols in the PRACH slot, for the PRACH resource inwhich to transmit the PRACH signal; and transmitting, to the basestation, the PRACH signal starting from the starting OFDM symbol in thePRACH slot, based on the configuration information.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the configuration information relates toslot type information that indicates a symbol index for the startingOFDM symbol.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein based on theslot type information indicating a slot type, the symbol index for thestarting OFDM symbol is same in each of a plurality of PRACH slots. 4.The method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration informationcomprises a symbol index for the starting OFDM symbol.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the starting OFDM symbol has a symbolindex of 0 or
 2. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:receiving, from the base station, information regarding a subcarrierspacing for the PRACH signal, wherein a length of the PRACH slot isrelated to the subcarrier spacing.
 7. The method according to claim 6,wherein the configuration information comprises information regarding aframe that is related to a plurality of slots for the PRACH signal, andwherein a number of the plurality of slots related to the frame isproportional to the subcarrier spacing for the PRACH signal.
 8. Themethod according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of slots for thePRACH signal are repeatedly mapped based on a periodicity that isconfigured by the configuration information.
 9. The method according toclaim 6, wherein the length of the PRACH slot is inversely proportionalto the subcarrier spacing, based on a preamble sequence of the PRACHsignal being a short sequence having a length of
 139. 10. A userequipment (UE) configured to transmit a physical random access channel(PRACH) signal in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: atransceiver; at least one processor; and at least one computer memoryoperably connectable to the at least one processor and storinginstructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, performoperations comprising: receiving, from a base station through thetransceiver, configuration information for a PRACH resource in which totransmit the PRACH signal, wherein the configuration information relatesto (i) a PRACH slot in which to transmit the PRACH signal, the PRACHslot comprising a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and (ii) a starting OFDM symbol, among theplurality of OFDM symbols in the PRACH slot, for the PRACH resource inwhich to transmit the PRACH signal; and transmitting, to the basestation through the transceiver, the PRACH signal starting from thestarting OFDM symbol in the PRACH slot, based on the configurationinformation.
 11. The UE according to claim 10, wherein the configurationinformation relates to slot type information that indicates a symbolindex for the starting OFDM symbol.
 12. The UE according to claim 11,wherein based on the slot type information indicating a slot type, thesymbol index for the starting OFDM symbol is same in each of a pluralityof PRACH slots.
 13. The UE according to claim 10, wherein theconfiguration information comprises a symbol index for the starting OFDMsymbol.
 14. The UE according to claim 10, wherein the starting OFDMsymbol has a symbol index of 0 or
 2. 15. The UE according to claim 10,wherein the operations further comprise: receiving, from the basestation through the transceiver, information regarding a subcarrierspacing for the PRACH signal, wherein a length of the PRACH slot isrelated to the subcarrier spacing.
 16. The UE according to claim 15,wherein the configuration information comprises information regarding aframe that is related to a plurality of slots for the PRACH signal, andwherein a number of the plurality of slots related to the frame isproportional to the subcarrier spacing for the PRACH signal.
 17. The UEaccording to claim 16, wherein the plurality of slots for the PRACHsignal are repeatedly mapped based on a periodicity that is configuredby the configuration information.
 18. The UE according to claim 15,wherein the length of the PRACH slot is inversely proportional to thesubcarrier spacing, based on a preamble sequence of the PRACH signalbeing a short sequence having a length of
 139. 19. A method of receivinga physical random access channel (PRACH) signal by a base station (BS)in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: transmitting,to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for a PRACH resourcein which to transmit the PRACH signal, wherein the configurationinformation relates to (i) a PRACH slot in which to transmit the PRACHsignal, the PRACH slot comprising a plurality of Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and (ii) a starting OFDM symbol,among the plurality of OFDM symbols in the PRACH slot, for the PRACHresource in which to transmit the PRACH signal; and receiving, from theUE, the PRACH signal starting from the starting OFDM symbol in the PRACHslot, based on the configuration information.
 20. A base station (BS)configured to receive a physical random access channel (PRACH) signal ina wireless communication system, the BS comprising: a transceiver; atleast one processor; and at least one computer memory operablyconnectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that,when executed by the at least one processor, perform operationscomprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) through thetransceiver, configuration information for a PRACH resource in which totransmit the PRACH signal, wherein the configuration information relatesto (i) a PRACH slot in which to transmit the PRACH signal, the PRACHslot comprising a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and (ii) a starting OFDM symbol, among theplurality of OFDM symbols in the PRACH slot, for the PRACH resource inwhich to transmit the PRACH signal; and receiving, from the UE throughthe transceiver, the PRACH signal starting from the starting OFDM symbolin the PRACH slot, based on the configuration information.